The Mitchell Files 4
by Neuropsych
Summary: (COMPLETE) (Rated for language) The team and Mitchell go looking for someone to trade with, and find a community living in fear...
1. 01

**Mitchell Files 4**

_Author's note: Just a story to warm up on the whole Atlantis thing. NOTE: If you're a Stargate: Atlantis fan, and not an SG-1 fan and you haven't read the first three Mitchell Files, you're going to be completely lost. So you might want to head over to the SG-1 section (or my biography) and start at number 1. They're not short, but they're interesting (If I do say so myself) I fully intend to make a series out of this, so you might as well come along for the ride – that means you others who are regular readers, too, by the way!_

_That said; here we go!_

OOOOOOOOOO

_I spy with your little eyes... something small and brown and-_

It's the little freckle on the back of Major Sheppard's ear.

_Damn_

My turn. I spy with my little eyes... something green and brown and sort of-

_It's that rock with the moss on it we're passing_

Damn.

_I spy with your little eyes... something black-_

My wristwatch.

_You know, this would be more challenging if you'd stop peeking at what I'm thinking_

You're doing it, too.

_I can't help it_

Me, either.

_Let's try something else... I'm thinking of a numb-_

Five.

_Damn it_

"Colonel Mitchell?"

Melony turned at the sound of Sheppard's call. The Major was walking point on the small trail they'd discovered leading from the Stargate, right in front of Melony, who was walking beside Ford. Teyla was on their left flank and McKay was bringing up the rear.

"Yes, Major?"

"Look at this..."

He'd stopped at the top of a small incline – to call it a hill would have been charitable – and down below them was a valley of sorts, hidden fairly well in the trees. Nestled in the valley was a small collection of rough wooden houses, fences, and some animals that looked a bit like cows.

"Looks like a farming community," Mitchell said.

"Yeah..." Ford had stopped next to her, shifting his P-90 a little in his hands as he looked down at the valley below.

"This planet is filled with small farms and villages," Teyla said as she came over to stop next to Mitchell as well. "We are here just at harvest, so if they have extra, we should be able to trade for foodstuffs."

Since that had been the whole purpose of this little jaunt – that and finding a massive power source and a way to kill the Wraith, of course – Sheppard and Mitchell both nodded.

"Are these people friendly?" McKay asked, looking over the valley once more. He didn't see anyone moving around, which seemed odd to him. Weren't farmers always moving around, checking on animals and crops and stuff? That's how they were always pictured on TV...

"They will not harm us if we do not give them reason to," Teyla answered.

"Hear that, McKay?" Sheppard said, looking over at the Astrophysicist, "Don't be a jerk."

"I'm not a jerk."

"I'm just telling you... be nice to these guys, okay? No smug attitude or off the wall comments."

"Fine."

Mitchell looked at the sun, which was – as far as she could tell – getting fairly close to setting. That was the problem with gating somewhere else; even if it was morning where you were, it could very well be the middle of the night where you were going – or you could go from Summer to Winter in the blink of an eye. Which was the whole point of sending the MALP first, of course. So you knew what to wear.

"Think these people will appreciate an armed party come down on them so close to dark?" she asked Teyla. "We don't want to frighten them, after all. Or make them suspicious."

"I don't know." The Athosian looked at Sheppard, who looked at the sun and shrugged.

"If we hurry, we can get down to that set of houses before the sun goes down and it gets dark," he said. "Then if it looks like we might have a chance to do some business, we'll withdraw for the night and find a place to camp, then start in the morning."

"Oh, sleeping on the ground, _just_ what I wanted to do this morning when I woke up..." McKay said, sarcastically.

"Perhaps if the farmers welcome us, they might give us shelter for the night," Teyla offered, looking at McKay as if she hoped that would make him feel better about the whole thing. Mitchell didn't know Rodney all that well, but she was pretty sure he would have been a lot happier back at Atlantis in his warm, comfortable bed – and sleeping with farmers wasn't going to make him feel better about anything.

"One way to find out," Sheppard said. "Keep your guns in sight, but try not to point them at anyone..."

With that, they started down the incline, making no effort to conceal themselves, or be quiet as they walked through the brush the trail meandered through, and over a small stream that bubbled cheerfully over the rocks. They wanted the farmers to hear them coming, after all.

OOOOOOOO

The path led right into the center of a clearing that was surrounded by the wooden houses, which looked water-proof, but not much more functional than that. It was obvious that these were not wealthy people – although the houses were well-kept and there weren't holes in the walls. They just weren't fancy.

_How much fanciness does a farmer need?_ Talon asked.

Fanciness isn't a word.

_Yes, it is_

No, it –

A movement interrupted their silent conversation, and Melony and the others watched as one of the doors opened and a tall, thin man wearing plain homespun clothing walked out the door cautiously, looking at them as if he expected them to open fire on him at any moment.

Sheppard raised his hands slightly, showing that they were empty. Of course, he still had all his weapons close at hand, but he wasn't actually pointing them at the guy – and neither was anyone else.

"Who are you?" The man asked, his voice deep and rough and cautious, but not so challenging that they would take offense.

"We're travelers," John said, giving the guy as reassuring a smile as he could. "We-"

"_Travelers_?" The man asked, shocked. "Where did you come from?"

Sheppard looked back the way they'd come.

"Um... we came from the Stargate. From a planet... far... far... away."

"How did you get past the Guardians?"

"'Guardians'?"

The man looked appalled at Sheppard's obvious confusion. The fact that the other members of his party were wearing identical confused looks only made him even more surprised.

"The beasts that roam the forests, killing and tearing apart unwary travelers... Everyone knows about them."


	2. 02

"Well, obviously not everybody," Sheppard said, looking at Mitchell to see if she had anything to add to the conversation. She shrugged; she didn't know anything more about them than he did, after all.

"You-"

"Cay?"

A woman had suddenly appeared at the door behind the man, looking out at the strangers, curiously. Since they hadn't killed him, she had to assume that they were at least willing to talk, and they so seldom had visitors, after all...

"They're travelers, Rella," Cay said over his shoulder, still watching the newcomers.

"Travelers?" She hit his shoulder. "Of course they're travelers, you dolt! Do they look like our children?"

Melony smiled, and the woman caught the expression of amusement on her face and decided that if they had a sense of humor they couldn't be all that bad.

"My name's Rella," she told them, stepping forward and bowing. "This is my husband, Cay."

"I'm Major Sheppard," John told her, returning her bow a little awkwardly. "This is Colonel Mitchell, Lieutenant Ford, Doctor McKay, and Teyla."

"You're traders?" She asked, unsure what the titles meant.

"We are at the moment," Mitchell said. "We were told you are in the middle of your harvest season, and hoped to trade for any surplus you might have."

"We don't trade with strangers," Cay said, slightly sullen at being made fun of by his wife in front of strangers.

"Why does that sound familiar?" Sheppard said, looking over at Teyla, who smiled.

"You must stay the night," Rella said. "We don't have a lot of room, but we have plenty of food and you can all sleep in the barn."

"Joy." This was from McKay, who had managed to be nice for all of ten minutes. A new record.

"We'd love to stay for dinner," Mitchell said, stepping forward and bowing as well. "And perhaps you could tell us more about these Guardians that roam your woods..."

They should know about anything that might pose a threat to them, after all.

Rella nodded, smiling warmly.

"Come into the house."

They were all ushered into the house, which turned out to be far more comfortable than it looked from the outside. There was a large room that was dominated by a table with several chairs around it, and thick rugs that would keep the wooden floor from being cold on even the chilliest of days were scattered everywhere. There was a large fireplace that had a big pot of something boiling over the small fire and whatever was cooking smelled delicious.

"Come out, Children," Rella called when they'd all entered the house.

At her words, a handful of youngsters – ranging in age from a toddler to a boy of maybe 13 – all appeared in a doorway that led off the main room. Obviously, they'd been told to stay out of sight while their parents had decided whether the newcomers were dangerous or not.

Melony and the others nodded politely.

"Sit you all down," Rella said, putting her hand at the small of Melony's back and guiding her over to a chair. Since Rella was more than a few inches taller than Mitchell, and probably outweighed her by at least 30 pounds, it wasn't difficult.

"Thank you..."

Melony sat down, and the others were settled in chairs around her, with Rodney sitting beside her and the others on the other side of the table across from them.

"Dinner's not for another hour or so, but we can talk until then," Rella said, gesturing for the oldest boy to come forward. "I'll send Tray to the neighbors and have them come over – if you're going to be wanting to trade, you're going to need to talk to them. Most of _our_ food goes to feeding the children."

"Thank you," Teyla said.

A cup was placed in front of Melony, who looked up and saw Cay standing next to her. As if he was trying to make up for being sullen, he gave her a fleeting smile.

"Tea?"

She looked at the steaming cup, wishing heartily that he'd said coffee instead.

"Thank you."

She took a sip – it was hot and had a faint cinnamon flavor to it. Not something she'd drink every day – especially since she wasn't a tea drinker by nature – but it wasn't bad.

_I like it_

Yeah, well, your taste isn't all that great you know.

The others were offered cups as well, and each of them took a sip, with varying degrees of politeness. Rodney sniffed his carefully.

"It's not citrus, is it?" He asked Mitchell.

She shook her head.

It's not, is it?

_No. Did you see any orange groves around here?_

Melony smiled.

Good point.

"Drink it, Rodney," she said. "It's good."

He took a sip, and Melony took another drink of her tea and turned her attention back to Rella.

"So tell us about these Guardians," she requested. "What are they?"

"Creatures," Cay said, shuddering. "Terrible things that travel in packs and attack anything that moves – sometimes even our animals, although not very often."

"They're like dogs?" Sheppard asked.

Rella shook her head.

"More like demons."

"Manlike?" Ford asked.

"Why are they called Guardians?" Melony asked. The name implied that they guarded something, but it sounded like they were only trouble.

"Because the old tales say that the Guardians were placed here to protect the ancient city from travelers."

"The ancient city?"

Cay shrugged.

"It's probably just a story."

"Have you seen it?"

"No. No one has. No one wanders too far away from their farms."

"I don't blame them," McKay said.

"What's in the city that needs guarding?" Melony asked.

"No one knows," Rella said. "No one wants to go find out."

_I want to know_

You're too curious for our own good.

_It might be something important_

It might be a shrine to the secret cow god.

_It might be a way to finish the Wraith_

Why would they hide it?

_They're not hiding it, they're guarding it_

I'm not going traipsing all over this planet looking for a lost city and dodging vicious man-eating creatures.

_Just ask the neighbors about the city when they come in... maybe one of them knows something these two don't_

She sighed, and the others looked over at her.

"Sorry..." she gave Rella and Cay a wry smile, not about to explain that she was having a conversation with a critter living inside her. "It's been a long day."

"Ah."

Sheppard gave her an odd look from across the table, but Melony shrugged; she'd talk to him about it later, when they had less of an audience.


	3. 03

"Wow... I guess having visitors is a big deal to these folks, huh?"

Mitchell looked around the crowded room – which had seemed large when they'd walked in, but was now bulging to the rafters with Cay and Rella's neighbors and children. Apparently everyone in the area had turned out to see the traders, and they'd all brought food, which turned the thing into an impromptu potluck dinner.

"You weren't afraid of the Guardians?" One of the children assembled had asked before her mother could hush her.

Sheppard smiled and shook his head.

"We didn't _know_ about the Guardians."

"And if we would have known about them, we still would have come," Melony told her. "We like meeting new people."

Rodney had a pained look on his face at that, but he didn't dispute what Mitchell said.

The children had been sent off to amuse themselves and leave the adults to talk before dinner, then, but the conversation stayed on the subject of the Guardians. Several of the people had seen them – or had seen fleeting glances of an individual member of the pack – but no one really had a good description of them. Some said they were wolf-like, others said they were man-like, and the only thing they all agreed on were that they were deadly.

"Have any of you ever seen this ancient city they're supposed to be guarding?" Sheppard asked them as they assembled the makings of their meal.

There was a chorus of nos.

"Talon wants to see if we can find this city," Melony told Sheppard when they'd taken their plates to the table, where as guests, they had the best spot. Others ranged themselves around the room, sitting on cushions or on the floor, depending on how flexible they were.

John nodded. He was curious about this ancient city, too. 'Ancient' just smacked of Ancients, and who knew if it was their Ancients or just an old city?

"I wouldn't say no if you wanted to go take a look..."

"What about the Guardians?"

"We didn't see any on our way here," Ford said, joining the conversation. "I didn't hear anything spooky out there, either. Maybe they don't exist?"

"Something exists," McKay told them. "These people are seeing something – and Harlan there says one of the Guardians ripped apart one of his cows last year."

"It might have been a regular predatory looking for an easy meal," Melony said, shrugging.

"But-"

"I'm not suggesting we go out looking right this minute," Mitchell interrupted before McKay could say anything. "Rella offered us a place to sleep tonight, so I suggest we stay the night in the barn and talk it over when there's less people around."

"Nothing to talk over, really, is there?" Teyla asked. "We're all curious about this city so we might as well see if we can find it."

"Hello? We're not _all_ curious about this city. I for one just want to get our wheat – or whatever it is we can garner from this little collection of hovels – and go home."

"McKay..."

"What?"

Mitchell looked over at Ford and grinned, and the young Lieutenant smiled back. Sheppard would convince McKay that there was probably something interesting in the ancient city – something worth the risk – and they'd head out looking for the city in the morning. There was no asking Ford what he wanted to do; Mitchell knew Ford better than she knew any of the others and knew he welcomed any challenge or chance to explore. Which was probably the reason he'd gone to Atlantis in the first place.

She turned back to her meal, ignoring Talon's smug presence in her head.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"You're going to go looking for the city?"

The shock and dismay on the faces of the other people sitting around the bonfire that had been lit in the courtyard of Cay and Rella's house was obvious, lit up in the dark by the firelight.

"What about the Guardians?" One of the others asked.

Sheppard shrugged.

"You don't seem to understand how dangerous they are," a voice from the other side of the fire said.

"We didn't see one on our way here," Sheppard said, "but if we do-"

"You won't see one, you'll see the whole pack," someone interrupted.

"We have weapons..."

"We do, too, but it's hard to hit one with a pitchfork," someone else said. "When they went after my cow, I-"

"They didn't go after your cow, Harlan," Someone else interrupted. "You made that up."

"I di-"

"We have better weapons than pitchforks," Melony assured them, smiling. "All we really need is for you people to get together and try to remember if anyone's ever heard where this city is. What general direction do we go?"

"South."

"East."

"It's to the North."

There was a snort of amusement from Ford – amusement that was shared by Melony and the others. What could they expect?

"You guys all talk it over..." Sheppard said, taking another sip of the tea that had dominated their meal and after dinner conversation – it wasn't bad once you drank a gallon of it and it grew on you. "We'll need something a bit more specific."

"We will if we don't want to be here for the next ten years," Ford murmured to Mitchell, who nodded.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

By the end of the evening, after much arguing and speculation, what they ended up with was a vague 'it might be somewhere to the southeast of here.'

The neighbors tried warning the Atlantis team against going off in search of the city, and then warned them repeatedly to watch out for the Guardians and to make sure they were back in settled land before nightfall – apparently the Guardians roamed after dark as well, but everyone agreed that they never went near human habitations. Except for the lone voice of Harlan, who kept swearing they'd attacked his cows.

By the time everyone left and Cay had taken them to the barn where they were going to sleep, it was well past dark and everyone was more than ready for bed.

"Watches?" Sheppard asked Mitchell once the team was alone.

"Oh, yeah." Just because they were in a sheltered place, there was no guarantee that nothing could threaten them here – including the neighbors, who seemed friendly, but it never hurt to be sure.

"Single or double?"

Mitchell shrugged.

"Single. No reason to lose sleep if we don't have to."

They worked out a quick schedule which meant no one would have to be awake more than a couple of hours during the night, and Melony watched as the others settled in to sleep. Sheppard had the last word that night, though. As he pulled his blanket over his head, he looked over at her.

"Wake me up if any of the Guardians come after the cows..."


	4. 04

Morning was sooner than they'd all expected – apparently the planet they were on had shorter days and nights than Atlantis or Earth – and McKay was still on watch when the sun came up and the sounds of the children and Cay and Rella getting ready for the day came drifting through the barn.

Rodney knelt down next to Mitchell, resting his hand on her shoulder. She came awake immediately – which was a far cry from how she woke up when they were someplace familiar.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's morning."

"What?" She looked at her watch. "_Already_?"

McKay rolled his eyes, but he held back his comment about how redundant it was for her to look at a watch when it was obvious the sun wasn't on the same schedule here that it was at home. Had it been anyone else, he'd have said it in an instant, but he still hadn't quite figured out Mitchell, and wasn't sure how much mockery and sarcasm he could get away when it came to the Colonel.

"The sun's up," he told her, biting his tongue and moving on to wake up the others.

A five-hour night? No wonder it went from sunset to bedtime so quickly 

She rolled out of her pile of hay – she'd had far worse beds in her time – and stood up, stretching.

"We'd better find out how long a day lasts here," she said as the others got up and started putting on their gear. "If we don't want to get caught out in the middle of nowhere when night falls."

"Maybe we should head to the gate and check in?" Ford asked. "Let them know what we're doing..."

Sheppard shook his head.

"Weir knows we were planning on being here a couple days. They won't start getting worried unless we don't show up or check in by tomorrow evening."

"What makes you think we can find this city in two days?" McKay asked. "These folks have lived here forever and _they_ haven't found it."

"They don't go 3 miles from their homes," Ford said.

"It is difficult to explore a place if you're afraid to leave the protection of your walls," Teyla agreed.

"Well, let's see if they have anything for breakfast," Sheppard said. "I want to get going as soon as we can."

They'd brought supplies of their own – in case they hadn't been able to find people, or the people had been unfriendly or unable or unwilling to feed them – but they didn't want to make a mess cooking their own stuff if they didn't have to.

OOOOOOOOO

They didn't have to. A huge breakfast was provided for them – along with more of the tea that they'd had the night before. Mitchell looked at her cup mournfully, wishing it would magically fill with coffee, but when it didn't, she ignored Ford's amused look and drank the tea she'd been given.

_I like it_

So you've said.

_Don't pout_

I'm not pouting I'm _sulking_. There's a difference.

Despite her disappointment with the choice of beverage, there was nothing to complain about when it came to the meal. Ham and eggs, mountains of fried potatoes that were seasoned with some kind of herbs they'd never tried before, and fresh strawberries. This was the sort of food they were going to be trading for – once they returned from checking out the city (which would give Cay and Rella's neighbors time to decide how much of their surplus they could part with)

OOOOOOOO

"Southeast, huh?"

"That's what they said..."

Their stomachs filled with breakfast, it'd been a relief to walk for a while and work the heavy meal off. They'd hiked for four or five miles, not in any particular hurry but watching the woods around them carefully for any sign of movement that might be a precursor to an attack by the as yet unseen Guardians. That hadn't turned out to be their biggest problem, however.

Long before lunchtime, they'd come upon their first obstacle – and it was a doozy.

"It doesn't look that bad," Ford said as they all stood at the top of a cliff. A very high cliff that had to be at least 100 feet – which was plenty high enough. "We could probably make it down..."

"Why don't we go along the edge for a while?" McKay said, obviously not enjoying the thought of trying to make it down that steep incline. "Maybe there's an easier way down..."

They looked both directions – the trees had ended about fifteen feet from the edge of the cliff and the bare area ran along the cliff as far as they could see in either direction.

"What do you think?" Sheppard asked Mitchell.

"There might be an easier way somewhere else," she said. "As long as we stick to the general direction that we were given – and we can if we head south – then we might as well look for a better spot. I'd hate to risk an injury needlessly."

"Have I ever told you that you're a genius?" McKay said, looking down the cliff once more.

Melony smiled, and looked at Sheppard.

"It's your decision, Major."

He nodded.

"We might as well look for a better spot. This looks pretty steep, and I'd hate to have to pick up the splattered pieces if McKay fell."

"Funny..." Rodney threw Sheppard a scathing look, but John merely smiled and started off, moving towards the south. The rest of the team followed, with Mitchell bringing up the rear.

_I spy with your little ey-_

That piece of moss.

_Damn it _

Melony grinned, and looked over to the right, away from the cliff face. They might be playing, but they were both still paying close attention to what was going on around them, and Mitchell hated having the steep cliff on one side of her – it cut down on escape options in the event of an attack, after all.

Turned out, she was wrong – sort of.

They'd only walked a mile or so along the cliff when the attack came – and it was lightning fast. They were walking past a section of land where the wooded area actually extended almost to the very edge of the cliff and they were forced to walk more or less in the trees in order to be able to keep from being too close to the edge and risking a long fall. A movement and a rustling of leaves and brush to the right was all the warning Mitchell had – even with her Talon-accentuated reflexes. She turned, just in time to see an impossibly huge shape bearing down at her, and barely got her hand to her side – and nowhere near her guns – before that shape crashed into her.

"Colonel!"

The noise had alerted Ford, who was right in front of her, and the Lieutenant turned around just in time to see a wolf-like creature tangled with Mitchell and the two of them go tumbling over the edge of the cliff.


	5. 05

Mitchell automatically grabbed hold of the creature that tackled her figuring if she was going to go over the cliff the least she could do was take it down with her. She felt the creature grab her tightly – almost as if it had the same idea – and then felt them falling.

"Shit!"

Yeah, this landing was going to hurt.

Before she realized what was happening, though, the air pressure around them changed and she felt the creature that she was clutching so tightly change as well. It wasn't gradual. One minute she was grabbing a furry gray creature and the next minute the fur was replaced by feathers and her hold slipped as the body structure of the creature changed instantly and completely. She continued to fall, but saw wings snap out from the creature's sides and slow its fall.

Reaching up desperately, she managed to grab a handful of feathers but that was it. She plummeted, and there was no doubt that Talon wasn't going to be able to fix this one.

A moment later, though, she was roughly grabbed from above, sharp talons grabbing at her Kevlar vest and jerking her downward momentum to a halt. She yelped when one of the talons missed the vest and went through the soft part of her shoulder stabbing clean through, but the grip of the creature never loosened.

Winds buffeted Melony as the great wings flapped furiously, and the ground – which had been getting uncomfortably close – once more started to fade away.

_Hold on_

To _what_?

The hand that was connected to the arm that had been pierced by the talon was pretty much useless just then, but with her other hand she tried to reach up and grab something – anything – and managed to get another handful of feathers, this time from one of the great wings as it came close to her on a down-stroke.

There was a startled, pain-filled squawk and she was shaken violently for a moment – jarring the injured shoulder painfully.

_Oh, you pissed it off now_

No shit...

She wasn't really up for a lot of banter just then. They were in a pretty pickle at the moment, after all. The creature's flight had leveled off and it was obviously carrying her somewhere. If it'd wanted to kill her, it would have simply been a matter of dropping her, after all. Of course, she was fairly certain she didn't want to go wherever it was they were going, so it was a matter of did she want to make it drop her and pretty much guarantee that she was going to be killed, or go wherever it was taking her and hope that she could fight her way free once her feet were on the ground?

In the end, she and Talon decided to wait it out – as long as it didn't go too far. If they found themselves closer to the ground, she'd try to get it to drop her, otherwise she'd fight it once she had her feet on solid ground.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Oh my-"

Ford ran to the edge of the cliff, followed instantly by the others. They'd all turned around in time to see the pair of combatants go over the cliff – although Ford was the only one who'd been close enough to see Mitchell grab hold of the creature as they went over.

"Colo-"

Sheppard's alarmed call was cut off when they all witnessed what happened next. In mid-fall the creature's body changed. One minute it was a wolfish looking thing and the very next second it was a bird of some sort – a great big ugly bird.

"Sonofabitch!"

"Did you see that!"

"What-"

They could clearly see Colonel Mitchell struggling in the creature's grasp every time the wings moved, and they heard the creature's cry of pain and had to assume that she'd done something to hurt it.

"Get it!"

"No, it'll drop-"

Something heavy crashed into McKay from behind just then, knocking the breath out of him as well as sending him over the cliff as well. Before he had time to even panic about the fall, he had something new to panic about. He felt himself grabbed by the vest he was wearing and immediately found himself in the exact same position Melony was in. Being carried by a great bird to God only knew where.

"_Help_!"

"McKay!"

Sheppard turned to look behind them, instinct telling him that where there were two there were probably a lot more. Sure enough, another bird was coming right at him, and it plucked him off the edge of the cliff neatly and as easily as Sheppard might have picked a cherry off a tree, grabbing him by the vest as the others had been grabbed

"Shit!"

Ford brought his P-90 up, determined that the damned birds weren't going to get away with everyone without a fight, but he held his fire. If he shot and killed the bird, the Major was as good as dead, since they were already over the edge of the cliff.

Like Sheppard, Ford turned to the direction the birds had come from. Before he'd completed the turn he was bowled over by yet another bird, and saw one attack Teyla at the exact same moment. Luckily, the creature grabbed him by the vest – he wasn't aware that the others had all been grabbed with the same precision – but he only had a moment to be glad for that when he found himself being carried out over open space with a considerable drop underneath him.

He still had a firm hold on his machine gun, and for a moment Lieutenant Ford debated shooting the bird from underneath and making it drop him. Of course, like Mitchell had already figured out, if he did that he was going to plummet to a very messy death. He lowered the P-90, but made sure his grip on it was firm. The minute he thought he'd be able to survive the drop, he was going to shoot himself free. Besides, it wasn't like he had a whole lot of anything else to hold onto.


	6. 06

_Hang on Hot Shot_

She tried to say something funny, but the pain in her shoulder – which had been dull for a while, but was now throbbing with a vengeance – and blood loss were draining her of a lot of her normal good humor. Talon could deal with the pain, somewhat, and he was doing the best he could, but there wasn't any way he could replace the blood that was seeping out her wounded shoulder and smearing her right side, and the movements caused by the flight of the bird – the up and down motion of the wings and the forward momentum – were making it hard for him to control the nerve endings that were causing her so much pain.

We should just kill it... She told him, feeling very much abused, not to mention a little foolish. Carried by a bird-like creature to God only knew where? No one would have ever believed that. She couldn't even imagine what Sheppard and his team were thinking – or doing.

_Look down_

She did what he told her, and looked down, and realized that they were either going lower or the ground was coming higher. It was certainly closer than it had been the last time she'd looked down. Of course, that had been more than an hour ago.

Could we survive that? She asked him.

_Not yet, but if we get too much lower I'm all for doing something_

She couldn't use her Beretta. Her right arm and hand were so numb that she wasn't sure she'd be able to move it and she was certain she'd never be able to lift it high enough to fire at the underside of the creature. Her left hand, however, _would_ move. She'd been flexing that hand – and the fingers – making sure that she had mobility there – although she hadn't tried to lift her arm because she didn't want the creature to think she was going for its feathers again and shake her again. _That_ had hurt.

Her left holster held the zat – and while it wouldn't kill the creature – it would shock the hell out of it, and probably make it drop her. The only problem was that since she was touching it – well, technically it was touching her – she'd end up feeling the jolt as well. But she was willing to pay that price.

A few minutes later, she realized that the ground was, indeed, getting closer. She didn't know if they were coming to a mountain top or if the bird was flying lower – although she suspected the former since she didn't feel them going any lower – but where they'd been hundreds of feet above the ground before, now they were only fifty or so – maybe less. She could probably survive that, _right_?

_You wouldn't die immediately. Unless you landed on your head. Let's see if we get any closer._

The mountain – she decided they were coming up to a mountain, since the trees were giving away to bare rock and it certainly looked like it was a mountainous area, even without the peaks she was used to seeing – was looming in front of them, now, and there was a bare dirt looking area that the creature seemed to be heading for.

Landing area?

_Maybe. We're close enough now, Melony, do it. We don't want to be at this thing's mercy when it lands_

She looked down – thirty feet or so, maybe – and pulled her zat. She looked up, muffling the pained groan as the action moved her right shoulder and she felt the bone grating against the talon that had her pinned so securely, and raised the weapon and fired it.

A shock of electricity coursed through her, tearing a curse from her throat despite her resolve to be quiet, and she almost dropped the zat. Only the fact that she might need it for another shot if the creature let her go forced her to hold onto it. The bird above her was zapped at the same moment, and Melony heard a surprised and pained squawk that pealed through the air around them. It dropped her immediately and she tumbled to the ground, rolling as soon as she landed and feeling a pain shoot through her left leg when she didn't get it tucked under her soon enough and the jolting landing snapped the femur like a piece of tinder.

"Sonofabitch!"

She came to a stop, gasping and wincing, but looking around immediately for the creature.

_Look at that_

The shock of the zat had had more of an affect on the creature than just hurting it, apparently. The bird was gone, now, and sprawled close to her – where it had apparently fallen out of the sky when the shock had reverted it back to its natural form – was a vaguely human-looking thing that was about eight feet tall and naked.

It – _he_ – she noticed, looked over at her, its weird eyes as pale as Melony's.

"What did you do that for?"

OOOOOOOOO

Sheppard checked the action of his P-90 once more, looking around as he did so. The ground was getting closer – and had been for the last several minutes – and he was going to have to try something soon, before the bird thing took him back out into open space once more. At least here, if he managed to kill it by shooting it – he wouldn't die if the creature dropped him. Probably. John was getting very tired of being carried around like a salmon plucked out of a Canadian lake.

Closer...

He took the safety off.

Closer...

He looked up, checking to see what looked the most vulnerable above him – without getting himself splattered if he could avoid it – and chose his target.

Closer...

He was sure he'd survive a drop from this height. He raised the machine gun. And felt himself falling. The bastard had dropped him!

"Shit!"

He landed in a pile of something soft and felt his wrist snap when it was caught between the butt of his machine gun and his body. Rolling over and out of what appeared to be a haystack, Sheppard tried to get to his feet, and realized that legs that have been dangling for more than an hour will not support anything. He fell back with a groan, this time landing on hard-packed dirt.

"Do not move, or you may hurt yourself." He raised the P-90, turning to see an impossibly tall... person...? standing near him, looking at him with a concerned expression on its... um... _her_... face.

"Yeah, thanks for the tip..." He saw a shadow over them, and looked up, just in time to see another one of the crazy bird creatures coming in low. This one was carrying Rodney McKay and it dropped him into the pile that Sheppard had just rolled out of.

The astrophysicist landed with a muffled curse that John had never heard him use before, and Sheppard reached out with his good hand and pulled him to the side, fairly certain that where one of his team was, the others would soon be landing as well.

"What was-"

"Are you all right?" Sheppard asked, interrupting his question. It wasn't like he had any answers anyways.

"My legs are sore and I think I need to change my underw-" McKay became aware of the creature standing close by all of the sudden and came to a stop. "What is _that_?"

"Beats the hell out of me," Sheppard answered, looking up as yet another bird came soaring in, this time carrying Teyla and dropping her into the pile. She landed with a thump and Rodney – who was closer – reached out without getting to his feet and pulled her closer, just as Ford came sailing in as well.

The Lieutenant's curse wasn't muffled at all, and as he lay there in the hay, rubbing the bleeding bump on his head – which he got from landing on _his_ P-90 – he looked around and saw the others.

"What the _hell_ is going on?"

Sheppard turned to the creature that had spoken to him and was standing silently by, watching them.

"That's what I'd like to know," he said. "Where's Colonel Mitchell?"


	7. 07

Melony's eyes widened when she heard the creature speak. Its words were clear, even though there was a definite accent of some sort that made the syllables draw out a bit more than she was used to.

"You speak?"

"Of course."

Oh, yeah... of course...

_Ask it what it is_

"What are you?"

"What are you?"

"I asked first."

"I'm Kale. I'm a Light One."

"A light one?"

He nodded.

"Now you."

"Colonel Melony Mitchell. I'm... a human."

"You are more than simply human," he told her. "Your life force is very strong."

"I'm human," she repeated. "I just have a little extra-"

"What's wrong with your wing?"

He'd finally noticed the blood oozing out of Melony's shoulder and down her arm. Of course, after the mad flight, she pretty much had blood spattered all over, but it was concentrated around her shoulder.

"What?"

He rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Why are you bleeding?"

"Because you stuck your claw through my shoulder."

Kale looked down at his hand, as if looking for blood.

"You pulled out my feathers."

"_You_ started it," she said, feeling just a bit surly about the whole affair. Her arm was throbbing, her leg was on fire, and this... guy... was mad at her for pulling out a few _feathers_?

"You were coming into dangerous territory. I rescued you."

"Yeah? Well, thanks."

"You're welcomed."

She sighed. Obviously he hadn't picked up on the sarcasm. Ah well, it was probably better not to piss it off anyways.

_He seems nice enough_

He _stabbed_ me.

_It might have been an accident_

He. _Stabbed_. Me.

"What were you doing in the sacred place?"

The question pulled Melony away from her conversation with Talon. She looked over at him.

"What?"

"The sacred place." He repeated. "Why were you there?"

"Is that where we were when you came out of the woods and knocked me over the cliff?" She asked.

"You're angry about that?"

"You stabbed me." God, it was like talking to a two year old.

_He's probably thinking the same thing_

"You were in danger," Kale repeated. "The Dark Ones were closing in on you and your companions."

"What are the dark ones?" Melony asked.

"They haunt the woods."

So they would be the Guardians, she decided.

"What do they look like?"

"Like us, kind of."

"Do they change forms like you?"

He shook his head.

"Only the Light Ones can transform themselves into-"he turned to look over his shoulder, up the slope of the mountain. "Your companions are arriving."

"You brought them here?"

He nodded.

"They were in danger as well."

"Are they hurt?"

"I don't know. Would you like to go see them?"

"I would, but I don't know if I can..."

"Your hurt wing will not stop you from walking."

"Yeah, well my busted leg might have something to say about it."

He stood up and walked over to her, then knelt down beside her, his gaze going to the leg that was stretched out in front of her.

"You hurt your leg?"

"You dropped me on it."

"You shocked me."

"Yeah, well... I didn't know you were trying to save me. Sorry."

"Your apology is accepted."

Kale reached down and put his hand on Melony's leg, and she winced even though he was obviously being careful.

"You can't walk on that." He said. "I can feel the break."

"Yeah, so can I."

"I could carry you."

"As a bird?"

He nodded.

She shook her head.

"I'll pass, thanks."

"If we immobilized it, you could lean on me and walk a little perhaps."

Talon?

_If he could splint it, it'd hold long enough to get someone to set it. If someone sets it I can hold it together from there._

She nodded.

"We could try that."

He got to his feet and walked into the woods, disappearing without so much as rustling a bush or stepping on a twig.

This is crazy.

_It's interesting, that's for sure_

I wish Carson was here.

Talon agreed, but he really didn't have time to talk – now that they were still; he was taking advantage of the opportunity to do a little damage control with her wounded shoulder. He'd already stopped the bleeding, which had been impossible to do when the claw had still been in the wound, and was starting to work on some of the damage caused to her shoulder blade.

"This might cause you some discomfort..."

She looked up; Kale was already back, walking out of the woods as silently as he'd entered them, only now he was holding a couple of sturdy sticks and some vines – presumably to make a splint with.

"I know."

He splinted the leg quickly, lashing to sticks in place so tightly that Melony thought she might pass out any minute – and might have if not for Talon boosting her a bit. When he was done and the bone wasn't going to be able to shift when she moved, Kale stood up and offered her his hand, pulling her carefully to her feet.

"Oh, sweet Jesus, that hurts..."

She didn't even have any weight on it and it felt like it was going to fall off.

"Lean on me."

That was harder than it had seemed it should be. Kale was eight feet tall, after all, and she couldn't just put her arm over his shoulder and use him as a crutch like she might have Sheppard or Ford. His slender arm didn't give enough support, and neither did putting her arm around his waist.

Kale stepped back, after making sure she was balanced on the unbroken leg.

"I have another form that might be more help," he told her. A moment later, the humanish looking Kale was gone, replaced by the wolf-like creature that had attacked her in the first place.

This creature was huge, coming up to her chest, with gray fur and a fairly vicious looking face. Not a creature she'd want to meet in a dark alley. Or on the edge of a cliff. He moved to stand right beside Mitchell, sticking his head under her left arm and sidling up against her until he was so close she could feel the warmth of his large furry body even through her clothes and Kevlar vest. Melony found she could rest a lot of her weight on that broad back, and when she took her first painful step, he moved just as cautiously as he did.

"Yeah..." she muttered against her clenched teeth. "This will work, as long as we don't have to go far."

He whined – obviously this form wasn't a speaking form – and Melony took it for a no. She took another step. Then another, and he turned them and started them up the slope.


	8. 08

"Kale is bringing your companion."

"Kale?"

Sheppard frowned, looking around to see if any of the others had a clue what a Kale was. They looked blankly back at him, and the Major was worried about the gash on Lieutenant Ford's forehead.

"Are you all right?"

The young Lieutenant nodded, his hand going to his head.

"I hit my gun when they dropped me."

"Yeah, me too."

"Kale comes," the... woman... said, turning and looking down the slope.

They all looked the same direction and saw a couple of figures coming out from around a large pile of rocks. Colonel Mitchell was easy to recognize, even at that distance. She was limping seriously and leaning against a great big creature that looked like it was more than capable of eating her without any effort.

"Colonel!"

The group headed over to intercept the pair – but stopped just shy of the range of the teeth of the creature that she was with.

"What the hell is that?" McKay asked, looking at the creature.

"Are you all right?" Sheppard asked, not missing the splinted leg and definitely not missing the bloody shoulder.

"This is... um... Kale. He's a light one."

"A light one?"

She shrugged.

"That's what he said."

"It talks?" McKay asked.

"Not in this form."

"What?"

Melony shook her head.

"I'll explain in a minute, but I really need to get off my-"

"We have prepared a place for you and your companions to recover from the journey," the woman interrupted. Melony looked over at her, seeing her for the first time. She was even taller than Kale – and just as naked.

"Who are you?"

"Aron. You?"

"Colonel Melony Mitchell."

"You are injured... we should get you off your leg before we discuss anything further."

"What happened to your leg?" Ford asked as he came over to the other side of Melony, intending to take more of her weight off the leg and realizing he couldn't drape her injured arm over his shoulder like he wanted to.

"Kale dropped me."

"We got dropped, too," Sheppard said. She noticed he was holding his wrist at an odd angle – and saw that Ford was bleeding from a wound on his head.

"How's your hand?"

"Broken, probably."

"Ford?"

The Lieutenant shrugged.

"I hit my head, but I don't think it's more serious than just a cut – I don't feel dizzy or anything. It just hurts."

"Teyla?"

"I am fine, Colonel Mitchell."

"We landed in a haystack," McKay said. "It cushioned the fall fairly well."

"Haystack?" Must be nice.

_We might have been tossed into a haystack, too, if you hadn't shot Kale_

_You_ told me to.

_Well, I've been wrong before_...

She sighed, and hobbled next to Kale as the wolf-like creature started to follow Aron up the slope.

OOOOOOOO

The room they were taken to was pretty much a cave. It wasn't all that big – probably no larger than Mitchell's quarters back at Atlantis – but it was cozy enough with stacks of hay (or maybe straw) covered with heavy sheets of some kind of cloth to keep them from getting poked by the hay when they sat on it.

The creature that was Kale in another form stopped beside one of these piles, and Melony could have cheered with relief – or cried. She would have let him go and simply dropped to the pile of hay except that she knew that would hurt, and she didn't want to hurt any more than she already did. Instead, she waited for McKay to come in between her and Kale – which the astrophysicist did, but not all that willingly – and then took her weight off the wolf creature and eased down onto the hay with a sigh of relief.

Sheppard was beside her in an instant.

"How bad is it?"

"If I can get it set, it won't be so bad. As it is right now... Talon can't help me until the bones are in the right position. All he can do is ease the pain. How about your wrist?"

"It hurts."

"Ford!"

The Lieutenant came over and knelt down beside Sheppard and Mitchell, who gestured to her leg.

"I want you to set-"

"_Holy_!"

They all looked over just in time to see Kale shift from wolf form to... human. Rodney McKay had obviously been impressed – or spooked.

"Don't they have any clothes?" Ford asked when he saw that Kale was just as naked as Aron. It was kind of nice in the woman - she was attractive in an odd way - but Kale was just plain... large... and that was annoying.

"Maybe they don't transform well?" Mitchell said, leaning back a little as Kale spoke briefly with Aron and then walked over and knelt next to them.

"How is your leg?"

"I'm going to have Lieutenant Ford here try and set it," Melony told him. "Major Sheppard here broke his wrist when he was dropped, so we're going to need something to splint it with."

"I will have it supplied," Kale told her. He looked at Sheppard. "I am Kale."

"Major John Sheppard. Pleased to meet you."

Kale nodded, and looked at Ford, who introduced himself as well. Rodney and Teyla came over to be introduced as well, and then Aron introduced herself to Mitchell.

"Now that we're all friends," Sheppard said, "Could someone please tell me why the hell you decided to bring us here?"

"Apparently we were in danger," Melony told him, before Aron could say anything.

She nodded.

"You were being stalked by the Dark Ones."

"The _dark ones_?" Rodney asked.

Kale nodded.

"They are creatures that roam the forests wreaking havoc where they can – although it is not that often, since we also roam the forests, keeping them in check where we can."

"So... you guys are light ones? But there's also dark ones?" Sheppard asked.

Kale nodded. "We are called Light Ones, because of our abilities to transform. The Dark Ones once had this ability as well, but they were foolish, and angered the gods, and they were struck with a plague that turned them mad and made them unable to transform."

"So what do they look like?" Ford asked.

"They are like us," Aron said. "Either they are this shape," and she pointed to herself, "Or they are the form Kale was just in."

"No birds?"

She shook her head.

"There were some who were birds as well, but they have become lost to us – no doubt there were not enough to perpetuate the species and they died out."

"So..." Sheppard looked over at Mitchell and then up at Aron and Kale. "Tell me again why you grabbed us?" He requested. "Why not just move us somewhere away from the dark guys? Why bring us all the way here?"

"You were entering the outskirts of the sacred city," Kale said. "At the base of the cliff you were found on, there is a place to enter, and we could not risk you finding it and going in there."

"So there _is_ a city out here somewhere..." Ford said, more to himself than the others.

"You've heard of it?" Kale asked.

"The people we stayed with last night told us there were rumors of an _ancient_ city... we know of a people who were once called the Ancients, so we had hoped it might be one of their ruins left behind."

"It is not," Aron said. "The Ancients have not been seen around here for many, many centuries."

"You know of the Ancients?" Sheppard asked.

Aron looked surprised by this question, but it was Kale who spoke.

"Of course we do... we are remote and distant descendants of one of their allies – the Furlings."


	9. 09

"You're a Furling?" McKay asked the question before the others could, but it was exactly what each of them – except for Teyla, and Sheppard – would have asked. Certainly neither of them understood why they all looked so shocked. Teyla wondered what a Furling was. Sheppard wondered whether it was bad or good to be one.

Kale shook his head.

"I am not. I am a Light One. We are a cousin race to the Furlings – not all that similar to them, but related by a common ancestor."

"Have you ever seen one?" Asked Mitchell.

"Never."

"How do you know you're related to them?"

"How does your kind know it is descended from the Ancients?"

"We saw it in a history of the Ancients..." McKay said. "Of course, there's always been speculation that the life on Earth was begun-"

"McKay."

Mitchell cut him short. For more than one reason, and not because she didn't want to hear him go into lecture mode. She definitely didn't want him talking about Earth to these people who they'd only just met – no matter how nice they seemed.

"What?"

"Shut up."

Rodney scowled, and decided that Mitchell was being so short with him because her leg had to be killing her. It was the only thing he could think of – since she was normally far more congenial under most circumstances.

"Sorry."

"You have Furling histories?" Mitchell asked.

Kale shook his head.

"We have our own histories, that tell us where we came from."

"Can we see them?" Rodney asked.

"They are not visual records," Aron told him. "We keep our histories intact in songs and stories passed down from one generation to another."

"Can-"

"Your companions need medical attention," Kale said, noting that the one he'd injured was looking pale – even for someone with a life force as strong as the one he sensed in her. "Perhaps later, if you are interested, Aron or one of the others will tell you a story."

"How many of you are there?" Sheppard asked, glad to finally be on a subject he could have interest in.

"Several hundred," Aron answered. "We're spread though out the planet, keeping watch over the human populations and the Dark Ones from places such as this one – high and isolated."

"The dark ones can't find you here?"

"They cannot fly," Kale said. "And the humans never come looking for us – although we would not mind them if they were to seek us out."

"The humans we spoke to are afraid to go beyond their own fields," Teyla said. "They fear your kind – or the dark ones you speak of."

"We would not hurt them."

"What about these dark ones?" Sheppard asked. "Would they?"

Kale nodded.

"Well, then, that would cause a problem..."

"Of course... _they_ would not know us from the Dark Ones, and would not know they are in no danger."

"Better safe than eaten." Melony said.

"What's in the ancient city?" Rodney asked. He didn't really care about the problems of the people on this planet; he wanted to know more about this place – and wanted to see of maybe they'd get lucky and find some kind of undiscovered power source. Or, for that matter, a _discovered_ one. It wasn't like these folks were using any huge amounts of energy, after all.

"We do not go there."

"What?"

"Enough, Kale," Aron said, speaking up. Sheppard wondered if she'd topped him from speaking for the same reason he was certain that Mitchell had stopped Rodney McKay only moments before – they didn't know enough about each other to start telling their greatest secrets. "They have hurts that need to be treated, and are probably hungry."

She looked at Mitchell and Sheppard, having decided from the way they were acting that these two were in charge.

"What can we bring you?"

"Something to make a splint for Major Sheppard's hand," Mitchell said. "And some bandages – or clean cloths – and some hot water." They had plenty of antiseptic solution in the first aid kits they all carried to take care of her shoulder and Ford's head.

Aron sent Kale off with a gesture, and she knelt close to Mitchell, looking at the bloody shoulder.

"Kale did this?"

"How did you know that?" Melony asked. She hadn't heard him tell her anything of the sort.

"He told me as he was bringing you to join the others."

"You're telepathic?"

"What?"

"You can talk to each other with your minds?" Mitchell clarified. It was the only thing she could think of to explain it, since she knew Kale hadn't said anything to anyone once he was in wolf form.

She nodded, reaching out and touching the tear in Melony's uniform that the talon had caused.

"You cannot?"

"No."

"How do you communicate over long distances, then?"

"We use radios," Sheppard said, holding his up in his good hand.

"Mechanical devices that transmit radio signals-"

"McKay."

Melony's head was starting to hurt, and Aron had started to pull back the fabric of her uniform from the wound in her shoulder and _that_ hurt even more.

"Sorry."

"I am not knowledgeable in the anatomy of you humans..." Aron said, doubtfully. "I don't know how much help I could be..."

Mitchell shook her head.

"We can take care of ourselves, if you provide us with the items I asked for. We're used to it."

_You're used to me taking care of you, you mean_

That, too.


	10. 10

It was Ford who set Mitchell's broken leg. The Lieutenant had needed a bit of help hold the leg down while he pulled on it to get the bone to pop back into place, and Kale and Rodney supplied it, the Light One coming behind Melony and wrapping his arms snugly around her, while McKay held her leg as gently as he could, just above the break. Melony tensed, knowing it was going to hurt – even with Talon easing the nerve endings – and she barked out a curse that would have made Jack O'Neill blush when Ford pulled the broken bone back and then let it fall into place against the other broken end.

"Oh, God..." She leaned heavily against kale for a moment, trying to catch her breath while Ford wrapped a splint on the leg to keep the bones in place so Talon could start healing them.

"You going to be all right?" John asked, running a wet cloth across her forehead to clear the beads of sweat that had formed during the procedure.

"I will now." She closed her eyes, willing the pain to go away.

_I'm working on it_

I know.

_As loathe as I am to mention it... you're in a rather compromising position with Kale..._

She knew what he meant immediately, but there was no way she could be bothered about how it must look for her to be still wrapped up in the arms of the naked Light One, leaning back against him. She didn't have the strength to move, much less worry about propriety.

Kale held her for another moment, as if to make certain she was all right, then gently eased himself out from behind her and stood up.

"We will bring you something to eat while you care for the remainder of your injuries," he said. "Then the Council would like a word with you."

"The Council?" Sheppard asked, looking up from the sleeve he'd been pulling up to allow Ford a chance to try and splint his wrist.

Kale nodded.

"They are the ones who make the important decisions."

"Ah..."

Kale smiled reassuringly.

"Do not worry. They simply wish to learn a little more about you – we rarely get visitors."

They wouldn't have had us as visitors if they hadn't kidnapped us, Mitchell muttered to Talon.

_They were doing what they thought was right_

Yeah, yeah.

She felt his amusement, and wanted to poke him for it. Which just amused him further.

"Well, we'd like to learn more about your folks as well," Sheppard said, being the diplomat that Melony wasn't feeling up to being just then. She was still smarting at the whole being stabbed and dropped thing, after all.

Talon didn't bother to try and talk with her; he knew that eventually her normal good nature would take over and she'd forget about the grudge she was holding. Until then, he had bones to start on, and a shoulder wound to check. He wouldn't be able to heal either one instantly, but neither was life threatening, so he wasn't in a panic or anything.

Kale nodded and left with Aron, leaving a couple of bowls of warm water and a large stack of clean cloths to use as bandages. Since Ford – who knew more first aid than Rodney or Teyla did – was busy helping Sheppard with his broken wrist, Teyla and McKay went to work on Melony's shoulder, Teyla cleaning the front wound, and Rodney just as carefully cleaning the wound in the back. It was complicated to bandage, so they ended up just tying a couple of the larger bandages together and wrapping it around her shoulder and arm and then under her armpit to hold the bandages on and then they helped her put her vest back on over it – which would help even further to old the tied together bandages in place. Then Teyla went to take care of Ford's head injury, while Rodney went over and looked out the entrance to the cave – either to check the scenery, or to wait for their meal – no one was sure.

"Are you going to be alright?" Melony asked Sheppard.

"I'm all right," John said, nodding. He held up his hand, which was swathed from his knuckles to his elbow in tight bandages, showing her that he couldn't move it. "Beckett can set this when we get back."

It'd give him something to do, after all.

"Aiden?"

It wasn't often that Mitchell called Ford by his first name, and the Lieutenant knew it was just because she was worried about him.

"I'm fine, too, Colonel. Just a scratch and a bump."

"Dinner's here." Rodney told them coming back into the main section of the cave, followed by three others – all men, and all just as naked as Kale and Aron had been.

"I could get to like this place," Melony said, watching the Light Ones speculatively for a moment before turning to look at Sheppard, who was shaking his head in amusement. "What? The food smells great..."

"Uh huh."

"You didn't think I was talking about something else did you?"

"Of course not."

Sheppard's eyes were lively with humor, though, as one of the Light Ones brought a large platter of steaming vegetables and baked fish over to where he was sitting next to Colonel Mitchell. The others joined them, and were soon being served other courses as well; including a light fruity drink of some sort, and a dessert that consisted of what might have been a sponge cake. Or something.

"It _does_ smell good," Sheppard agreed.

"We will come for you at sunset," one of the aliens told the group as the other two left the cave. "The council wishes for you to tell us if there is anything we can bring you."

"We're fine," Mitchell said, taking a plate from McKay. "We'll be ready when you come."

The Light One left, and the five of them dished up heaping plates of food. All of them were hungry – breakfast felt like it was years before, and not a matter of just several hours.

"We're sure they're not poisoning us?" Ford asked, looking at his meal before taking a bite.

"If they wanted to kill us, they could have just dropped us off a cliff," McKay said.

"True," Mitchell agreed. "But if they want to get any information from us, then they might try drugging us to get it."

"Well, _you_ take a bite of everything and have Talon decide if it's safe for the rest of us," John said, reasonably.

Melony scowled.

"How come I have to be the guinea pig?"

"Guinea pig?" Teyla asked, confused.

"Because _you_ have Talon," Sheppard said, smiling. "Hurry up, too, okay? I'm starving."


	11. 11

As near as Talon had been able to tell, there was nothing suspicious about the food. Of course, he'd been wrong before, Melony told them as she'd taken another bite of the fish – which was delicious.

"I'm all for eating," Rodney said, looking at the plate he'd filled up.

John smirked, but didn't say the obvious, and Ford nodded his agreement.

"There's really nothing they can want from us, is there?" He asked.

Sheppard and Mitchell both shrugged. Who knew? But Sheppard started eating his meal as well and had to admit that if he was being drugged, it was probably worth it for the good meal. Teyla and the others started eating as well, and for a long time there wasn't a sound in the room except for the contented noises of people eating a home-cooked meal.

OOOOOOO

Melony didn't make it completely through her meal before she started dozing off. She wasn't all that surprised she was sleepy; Talon was healing her and taking a lot of her own energy to do it, and sleep was the only way to regain that energy. She yawned, and set her plate aside.

"You okay?" Sheppard asked.

"Tired."

He knew how she felt; he was beat, too. Of course, it might have just been the five-hour night, but he was injured, too, and his body was screaming for a little sleep as well.

"I wonder how long we have until the sun sets..."

"About 3 hours," McKay said around a mouthful of cake.

"How do you know that?" Ford asked.

McKay rolled his eyes.

"Because the sun set nine hours after we arrived on the planet yesterday, and presuming it sets the same time every night – more or less – it'll be the same time in three hours that it was yesterday. Give or take a few minutes."

"Oh."

"Of course, we've traveled a little and I don't know where the poles on this planet are or if we're any closer to them, so if we are then the day could be a little shorter-"

"McKay." Sheppard's sigh was one of suffering.

"What?"

"We get it. Three hours."

"Give or take."

"I need some sleep," Melony said, carefully lying back against the covering that was protecting her from the hay she was sitting on.

"Go ahead and sleep, Colonel," Ford told her, looking around for a blanket but not finding one. "I'll wake you up when the sun sets. Or when they come."

She nodded, and dozed off almost immediately.

"You mind taking the watch?" Sheppard asked Ford as they all watched Mitchell fall asleep.

"Not at all, Sir." He didn't really dare sleep after taking that blow to his head, anyways. Not for a few hours, at least. Just in case there _was_ a concussion – although he was sure he was fine. "Go ahead and get some rest."

Sheppard wriggled around on his make-shift bed for a few moments, getting comfortable, then closed his eyes and tried to ignore the throbbing in his hand and fall asleep as well. It didn't take long.

"You guys could sleep, too," Ford said.

Teyla shook her head.

"I'm not sleepy. I will stay awake and keep you company."

Rodney didn't even answer. He was still munching his way through their meal – and showed no signs of stopping long enough to sleep.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Colonel?"

A low voice woke Mitchell, and she opened her eyes to find Ford kneeling next to her.

"Hmm?"

"The sun's down..."

"What?"

"It's sunset. The light ones should be coming any time. I thought you should be awake."

Melony nodded, and started to sit up – and found she was stiff and sore and could barely move.

"Oh, God..."

"Are you all right?" Ford asked, helping her into a more upright position.

"Just stiff," she muttered, wincing at the stabbing pain in her shoulder. Obviously Talon hadn't gotten that far, yet.

_Your leg is more important, right now,_ he told her. _I need to get the bones together in case you need to be mobile_

She definitely agreed with that, although if they were up on a mountain she wasn't sure how she'd be able to get down in the event that they needed to escape or something. She looked around the cave – it was fairly dark outside, but there were candles of some sort inside the room that had been burning ever since they'd arrived, and these gave off plenty of light to see by.

"Have we heard from them?"

"Not yet," he said, watching as McKay woke Sheppard up. The Major looked just as sore and out of sorts as Mitchell did, but from what Ford could tell, he was fine. More or less. At least their food hadn't appeared to be drugged or anything. "They should be here any time, though."

She stretched – carefully, and flexed her left arm and right leg to see how they felt. A little stiff from the odd sleeping position, but fine otherwise. Her shoulder was on fire, though, and she winced when she tried to move her right arm. Damn.

"Help me up, Lieutenant, will you?"

He pulled her to her feet simply by putting his hand under her left armpit and pulling her up and held onto her once he had her up, certain that she wasn't going to be able to stand on her own. She looked pretty unsteady.

"How's the leg?"

"It's throbbing." She admitted. "How's your head?"

"I feel like it's going to explode any minute."

She frowned, and he smiled before she could start worrying.

"I took some aspirin," he said. "It'll stop hurting soon."

"If it doesn't, let me know, and we'll get some ice for it."

"Yes, Ma'am."

She started to say something else, but was interrupted by a movement at the opening of their cave. Aron and Kale were standing there, arriving silently. The male light one moved into the room, and walked over to where Melony was standing, leaning on Ford.

"We have come to take you to the Council," he said. "Do you feel up to it?"

She nodded.

"It's not far is it?"

"Not far at all." He promised. "I could change forms if you need to lean on me..."

Mitchell shook her head, although she had to admit that it was something to see when he transformed himself like that. "I'll use Lieutenant Ford, here," she said. "That way you don't have to bother."

"It is no bother," Kale said. "I am responsible for your injuries, so I am responsible for making sure you are taken care of. Just as _Aron_ is responsible for him." He gestured to Sheppard, whose eyebrows rose at that statement.

"What?"

"We injured you carelessly, and in the manner of my people, it is our duty to make sure you take no further hurt – and want for nothing while you are in our care."

"It's not that bad," John said, holding up his splinted wrist.

"It could have been," Aron said from the doorway. "But I am glad it isn't. I dropped you harder than I intended to."

"Well, I was in an awkward position." Sheppard said with a slight smile. He'd been holding his machine gun pointed at her underside ready to shoot her – how could it have been her fault? But he wasn't going to tell her that. It probably wouldn't have been the best way to remain friends, after all.

"So I am responsible for making sure you get to the Council without further injury," Kale said. "I will change and you can lean on me."

Melony shrugged – one-armed – and nodded. Of course, it was just as much her fault as it was his that she was hurt – except for the part where he'd stabbed her with his claw when he'd grabbed her out of the sky. But, like Sheppard, she didn't mention that just then.

"Um... Okay."

A moment later the light one was gone and the huge wolf-thing was back. It nosed its way between Ford and Mitchell, and once the Lieutenant was sure it had her, he let go and moved out of the way. Melony leaned heavily against Kale's furry back, and decided that he was a bit more support than Ford had been. Of course, he also outweighed Ford by at least a few hundred pounds.

"Are you ready?" Aron asked, once Mitchell had been transferred from the human's care to Kale's.

"Yes."

"Then let's go. The Council is eager to meet you."

She turned and led the way out of the entrance, walking slowly.


	12. 12

"I feel like I'm in some kind of whacked out porno movie..."

Mitchell snorted, almost losing her grip on Kale's furry, warm back, and shot a look over at Sheppard, who was looking around the room they'd just been escorted into. She could understand what the Major meant; the room was a large one, filled with a bunch of the straw-filled bags that obviously these people used instead of chairs, and everyone in the room seated or standing was naked.

"What is a porno?" Teyla asked John.

From behind them, Ford snickered, and Sheppard flushed a little and looked over at Mitchell, who shook her head.

"Oh, no... I'm not the one who made the comment, I'm not going to tell her..."

"It's... um... a... thing-"

"Major? Colonel? Please, come sit over here..." Aron had been walking close to Sheppard as well, and gestured to a group of the 'chairs' that were lined up in front of a group of light ones who were all looking their direction.

The crowd of aliens parted to make room for Kale and Mitchell to go first, and two other light ones stepped forward once the Colonel had reached the 'chairs' and eased her down into one, pulling another over to prop her leg up on.

_They certainly are pampering you, aren't they?_

Beats being tortured or something.

_True_

Kale moved aside and changed back into 'human' form, while the other members of Melony's group came over and sat down, Sheppard seating himself beside her, and watching the aliens they were sitting across from. The light ones were, in their turn, also watching the newcomers, their interest obvious and their pale eyes constantly returning to look at Mitchell.

"Do I have something in my teeth?" She murmured to Sheppard after a few minutes of being stared at.

He smiled, and Aron came over and sat next to him while Kale settled himself on the other side of Mitchell. Obviously they had some sort of role to play in this Council thing, but neither of them said anything. Melony looked over and saw that each of the other members of the team had one of the light ones sitting next to them as well.

_The ones that carried them in, maybe_? Talon hazarded.

Maybe.

It was as good a guess as anything.

One of the light ones across from them raised her hand, and all of the quiet conversations in the room ceased as everyone came over to sit on one of the 'chairs' or to stand close at hand.

"I am Council member Lora," she told the Atlanteans. Her voice was just as heavily accented as the others Melony had heard speaking, but it wasn't impossible to make out what she was saying if you paid attention. "We would hear of you."

"Hear of us?" Melony asked.

"Your story," Kale murmured to her.

"My..."

"You want to know why we're here?" Sheppard asked.

Lora nodded, as did the other four members of the Council.

"We would know why you are here, yes."

"We were walking along a cliff and suddenly got-"

"Not why you are here," Lora corrected with a slight smile of amusement on her face. "We would know why you have come through the gate."

"We're looking for foodstuffs," Sheppard said. "We were hoping to find people to trade with."

"Why were you near the sacred city?" Lora asked. "There are no farmers in that area."

"The farmers told us there were rumors of a city to the south of them. An ancient city. We were hoping to discover something that might help my people in their fight against the Wraith."

"The Wraith sleep," another of the Council members said.

Sheppard shook his head, looking chagrined.

"No... they're awake."

"You've seen them?"

"Yes. We all have."

There were quiet murmurings all around them, but they subsided when Lora raised her hand for silence.

"The Wraith do not come here. There are too few humans for them to bother with, and they find us to be far too difficult to catch."

"Is there anything in your city that can help us?" Mitchell asked.

Lora shook her head.

"The city is sacred to us only because it is where we all lived before the Sundering. But there is nothing more advanced there than you would find here – and nothing you could use in your battle with the Wraith."

"What is the Sundering?" Teyla asked, curious.

"It is the time in our history when our people were split between Light and Dark," Lora said. "When those who angered the Gods lost their Gift of Change."

"Oh."

"We are satisfied that you are not here to cause trouble," Lora told them. "You are welcomed to remain here as our guests for as long as you desire – and when you are ready to return to the Stargate some of our people will go with you to assure your safety."

"We need to go back to the farmers, first," Mitchell said. "They're looking through their surplus to see if they have anything to spare for trade."

"Then we will take you there," Lora said, nodding. "When you are ready. Now, if you wish."

The last thing Melony wanted to do just then was go anywhere. But she wasn't the one with the broken and unset wrist. It would be up to Sheppard when they left and with a look over at him, she let him know just that.

"The last thing those farmers need is us coming in on them in the middle of the night," John said. "We'll stay the night, if you don't mind, and then set out first thing in the morning."

Lora smiled, and Mitchell saw that she wasn't the only one on the Council to do so.

_They said they didn't get a lot of visitors, _Talon reminded her_. It's probably nice to have fresh people to talk to_

True

"Then you must join us for dinner, and we will have a chance to get to know each other better."

Sheppard shrugged.

"Sounds great."


	13. 13

Dinner was served in a similar manner to how it was served back in Atlantis. The light ones simply carried a few tables into the room they were in – apparently it doubled as a council room/dining room – or maybe it was just for special occasions – and loaded the tables with platters of food, and dishes to eat it off of. In moments the room was filled with the smell of meats of all sorts – including more of the baked fish, but also venison, and turkey and who knew what other kinds were there – and the smell of fresh bread, steamed vegetables, and berries and more of the sponge cake for dessert. Even though they'd only eaten a few hours before, everyone felt their stomachs start to rumble.

The others were escorted to the table by whichever Light One had been seated next to them – Aron had gently helped Sheppard to his feet so he wouldn't have to use his injured hand. Melony wasn't allowed to get to her feet. Kale had held his hand on her shoulder to keep her from trying to rise.

"I will bring you your meal," he said. "What would you like?"

Since she didn't have a clue what there was, she shrugged.

"How about a little of everything?" She asked. "That way I can see what you and your people eat."

He smiled, and rose to his feet, telling her he'd return shortly, and a few of the other light ones – all males – came over to sit next to her while she waited.

"You are not like the others," One of them said, although it came out as a question.

"What do you mean?" She asked, certain that they meant Talon, but not positive.

"Your life force is stronger than theirs."

She nodded.

"So I've been told." Apparently more than just Teyla's people could sense or feel the life forces of those around them. She wondered if it was a trait that was common to the galaxy or area or something. Whatever it was, it was going to get real old, real quick if everyone treated her oddly when she met them.

Since she didn't explain it, and the Light Ones were too polite to ask her, they changed the subject, asking her about her injuries.

She assured them she wasn't hurt all that badly – although she was aching something awful from moving on the leg that she had no business moving around on for at least another few days, even with Talon's help.

"Kale is most distressed he has injured you," One of them admitted to her. This one had introduced himself as Shad.

"He shouldn't be. It was as much my fault as his, most likely."

"I did not know if you wanted water or something stronger," Kale said, walking over and interrupting the conversation. He moved through the group of males and sat down beside her, resting a large tray over his lap – thank God – and handing Melony a plate filled with steaming food. "So I brought you water, and tea. If you desire something else, let me know and I will get it for you."

"Tea is fine," Melony told him with a smile. "Thank you."

Kale smiled as well, and shooed away the others, telling them to stop gawking at her so she could eat. Grumbling good-naturedly, they did as they were told, heading off to find others to eat with, and gossiping a little about what little they'd found out about Mitchell.

"Your people are very friendly," Melony said as she took a sip of her tea.

Kale nodded.

"We enjoy having guests – and do not have many. Your people will find that many of my people will want to make themselves known to them."

She nodded and took a bite of a piece of meat, and found it to be tender and delicious – although she didn't have a clue what it was.

_Eat up_, Talon told her. _You need the nourishment_

"The ones I was talking to were telling me that you're feeling bad about hurting me..."

Kale nodded.

"I was clumsy."

"I don't want you to feel bad, okay?" She told him. "It wasn't any more your fault than it was mine."

He started to say something, when Rodney McKay came over and sat down nearby, accompanied by the female that had escorted him to the dinner table. He was holding a plate that was filled with food, and was apparently asking her about the Sundering. Melony turned to listen as well, as she explained some of what had happened.

"The Dark Ones were like us – able to change their forms at will – and we all lived in the sacred city," she told McKay, but also turned slightly to include Mitchell and Kale as well. Melony looked for Sheppard, and found he was standing in the middle of a large group of Light Ones – mostly female – with Aron by his side. He was obviously in the middle of telling them some kind of story, because he was gesturing and they were all watching intently. Ah well, Rodney or she could tell him and the others the story later.

"One day a human child wandered into the city. This angered many of my people, who thought that the humans were a plague on our planet in the first place – and irate that they'd dared to intrude where they weren't wanted." The female shook her head. "The child was lost, obviously, but it didn't matter to those who found her, and she was killed in a very violent fashion – as an example to any other humans that might have come after her."

McKay had a pained look on his face – this wasn't a good story to be told over dinner, after all, but the female Light One didn't seem to notice.

"Others heard the commotion and came to investigate, and most were horrified by what had taken place. The humans are our kin – from way back in our own bloodlines, and they had killed one. It was the same as killing one of us. They took the body of the child from those who had killed her before they could desecrate it further, and admonished the ones who had done the horrible deed. But those were not to be rebuked. They felt what they had done; they had done in the name of our people."

"You're related to humans?" Rodney asked, intrigued.

She nodded.

"We have many races in our lines – and as you can see from this form we take – your kind is one of them."

It was his turn to nod and he asked her to continue the story, which she did.

"The ones who had killed the human child had now had a taste – figuratively – for human blood, and they and many who felt the same way they did decided that it was time for the humans on this planet to be exterminated – though our races had lived together for many hundreds of years without interference from each other. The others pleaded with them to stop and think about what they were saying – the Humans were protected by the gods it had been told in our histories, and although we did not have much to do with them, we were supposed to love them as the kin they were.

"They would not listen, and more than three hundred of our people went off one morning in search of more humans to kill."

"Genocide?" Mitchell asked, bleakly.

She nodded.

"That was what they had in mind. It is not what happened, however."

"What happened?" Rodney asked, so intrigued that he'd completely forgotten about his meal.

"The gods rose up and smote the ones who left. They punished them – taking their ability to change forms from them and ripping away from them their souls in chastisement. Left reeling and wailing – in whatever form they happened to be in when they left the city – they were proclaimed to be Dark Ones from then on, always living away from us, and unable to ever return. To protect the humans from them, the gods did something – we're not certain what – that makes the Dark Ones feel terrible pain if they approach the human settlements – any of them – although if a human is unwary enough to be caught outside the protective area, then they are in grave danger of attack, for the Dark Ones hate humans still – and blame their agony on them, instead of placing the blame where it truly belongs – on themselves."

"Wow..."

Mitchell looked over at Kale, whose eyes were saddened, even though he obviously had heard the story many many times before.

"The Dark Ones are also unable to approach the scared city – although they try frequently, as if they long for what once was – so they roam outside the protective area, always desperate, and always filled with hatred because of it."

"That's what you saved us from?" Rodney asked, swallowing hard.

The female nodded.

"The gods themselves gave us the duty to protect the humans of the planet, and we roam the forests in patrols, and keep an eye on the movements of the Dark Ones. We moved from the city because it hurt us to live in a place that was no longer happy and peaceful and came here, where we do not hear the howls of agony that sometimes come from the Dark Ones as they try to penetrate the barrier that keeps them from their ancestral home."

"We saw you and your companions were getting close to an area where they frequent, and although there were none there at the time, we knew it was just a matter of time," Kale said. "So we decided to take you, and bring you here, where you could be safe until we knew what you wanted."

"Ah."

"Your gods...?" Rodney asked. "What are they called?"

Kale shook his head, confused.

"We have no names for them. They are simply there. How can _we_ name a god? _Who_ could name a god?"

"_I_ can name one," McKay said, smugly, grinning over at Mitchell, who suddenly realized he was about to say something she definitely didn't want him to say.

"McKay..."

"Colonel Mitchell here is a god to about five million Jaffa. Well, _goddess_, actually..."

Kale turned to Melony so quickly he spilled the water.

"_Is it true_?"


	14. 14

Mitchell shook her head.

"It's true, to a point," she said, shooting Rodney a scathing look. McKay didn't understand why she looked so mad; if it were him, he'd be trying to figure out how to add that whole 'god' thing into every conversation he could.

"They call me that, but not because I have any great ability or anything. I simply freed them from a number of... false gods who were using them as puppets for their own amusements, and because of this, they more or less gave me the title. I don't ask anything of them, though."

"Is this true?" Kale asked McKay, shaking his head in amazement. Melony noticed that several of the other Light Ones were gravitating their direction and figured he must have said something telepathically to them.

Rodney nodded, still looking smug. He was friends with a _goddess_, for crying out loud, he wasn't ashamed to admit it!

"The Jaffa believe that since she killed the false gods, she took their place – although all she asks of them is that they protect those that the System Lords once subjugated."

"Which is something they'd rather do anyways," Melony said. "It's nothing special, Kale, and I'm nothing special because of it."

"She's the most powerful person in our little corner of the world," Rodney said.

"McKay, shut up."

He gave her a surprised look.

"What'd I say?"

Kale's look was a bit more awed, as were those of several others who had gathered around, and Mitchell sighed.

"Look, Kale. If I were all that special, I wouldn't be sitting here with a broken leg and a messed up shoulder, would I?"

"He did that to y-"

"McKay, why don't you go find Major Sheppard and tell him I said to toss you off a cliff?"

Realizing that she wanted him to hush for some reason, Rodney frowned, and subsided, although he didn't leave to find Sheppard, of course.

"So, you're not really a goddess?" Kale asked, uncertainly.

"Of course not." Melony said, shaking her head. "What they call me is nothing more than a label. Like my rank – Colonel. It doesn't make me special. It just gives me that much more responsibility."

"How so?"

"Because I have to live up to the perceptions people have of me."

McKay had to admit that he hadn't thought of that. It was obvious that Kale and those Light Ones that had heard her answer hadn't, either, because they were looking at her thoughtfully. It gave Rodney a whole new level of respect for Mitchell, because she was, indeed, living up to perceptions that many people – himself included – had of her simply because of what she was and had been labeled, long before they'd met her.

"You really have no special abilities?"

"I have talents," Mitchell said, shrugging. She was heartily tired of this conversation and was thinking that when they got back to Atlantis she was going to have a long talk with Rodney McKay about his big mouth. "No more than anyone else, though. I can't bend steel bars, or call down lightning."

Kale smiled.

"You shocked me when I was carrying you."

"I hit you with a stunning weapon I carry," she told him. "And I shocked the hell out of myself at the same time."

The others smiled about that, for many of them had 'heard' Kale's metal yelp when he'd been zapped out of the sky by his passenger.

"Tell me more of these people who you freed..." Kale requested.

"Let me finish my dinner before it grows cold, and I'll tell you."

He looked chagrined, then, because they had all interrupted her meal – and that of McKay – when it was plain both were very hungry. He nodded, and shooed the others away until it was just he and Mitchell, along with Rodney and the female who hadn't introduced herself to Melony. Those two moved back to their own 'chairs' to continue their meal, and Kale resumed eating his meal, although he would occasionally ask her if there was anything else she needed or wanted. And the meal passed in relative peace – although he would also cast a look her way as if expecting her to start glowing any minute.

Melony sighed, but ignored these looks, and concentrated on the excellent meal in front of her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

She was so intent on her meal, as a matter of fact, that it took her quite a while to realize that something else was happening among the Light Ones besides eating a simple meal. A few of them had paired off and were obviously finished eating and had moved on to... dessert. Suddenly, Sheppard's comment about being in a porno was becoming even more accurate as she averted her gaze from a pair who were off to one side engaging in what was completely the opposite of arguing.

_Oh, my_

She flushed, feeling Talon's own embarrassment as well as her own. Yeah, they weren't in Kansas anymore, were they?

Kale noticed her discomfort immediately – he'd been watching her rather carefully, after all.

"Colonel Mitchell? Are you ill?"

She looked up from her meal, and shook her head.

"Um... no."

"You looked flushed..."

His eyes were concerned.

"I'm fine, Kale... it's just... uh..."

"Are those two having _sex_?"

Rodney McKay had just noticed what Melony had already discovered. She blushed, but Kale followed McKay's glance towards the couple in the corner, then looked over at Mitchell.

"Is that not how your own people copulate?" He asked, confused.

She nodded, and Talon's snort of amusement caused her to smile just a little.

"My people are usually a little more... circumspect about the whole thing, though," she said. "We don't usually... um... copulate out in the open. We tend to prefer a little privacy."

"Ah." He looked over at the two once more. "My people are quite open about such things."

"So I see."

_And hear_

That, too.

"Aron finds your Major Sheppard most appealing," Kale said, softly. "She was going to propose a tryst... do you think I should tell her not to? Would it offend him if she were to ask-"

Melony shook her head, smiling.

"I didn't say we don't enjoy it, Kale. We just like more privacy than your folks appear to require."

"I shall let her know."

He gave Mitchell a speculative look.

"If you weren't injured, there are many here who would be interested-"

Melony shook her head again, knowing what he was going to say and cutting that off immediately.

"I am injured, though. And not interested."

Kale nodded.

"Because we are different?"

She shook her head. "You're not _that_ different. Not in this form, anyways. I just... well... it's complicated. And painful to speak of."

"Then I shall not press the issue further," Kale said, tactfully.

_And maybe there's someone else you're thinking of, instead_? Talon asked her in the silence that followed.

She didn't reply, but he didn't need her to.

"Things will most likely get uncomfortable for you, Colonel," Kale said. "Once the others are finished eating, they will begin to pair off as well... Would you like to leave before that begins?"

"That's not a bad idea."

"Shall I gather your companions for you?"

She shook her head. She wasn't sure how each of the others felt, and if they wanted a little nookie... well, who was she to play chaperone?

"They'll figure it out themselves... and can join in or leave as they wish. Will you help me back to the cave? I assume that's where I'll be sleeping tonight?"

He nodded, and stood up. A pair of Light Ones came over and eased her to her feet as well, then held her steady while Kale changed shape once more.

"You're going?" Rodney asked, looking over at her. He looked a little flushed, himself, she thought.

Mitchell nodded.

"I'm sore and tired."

"Do you need help?"

She shook her head.

"I'm fine. Just let the others know where I've gone – if they ask."

He nodded, and she put her arm over Kale's back, resting her weight on him once more and allowing him to help her out of the room and into the cool evening.

_You might be missing out on something fun_

Do you really want to put me back together if I hurt myself?

_Good point. Go to bed_


	15. 15

He helped her get settled back where she'd started; at the canvas covered straw stack. Melony eased herself down this time, not waiting for him to change back to human form and help her. She managed to do it without killing herself – although her leg was throbbing something fierce by the time she was able to squirm into a semi comfortable position.

"Will you be all right?" Kale asked her, kneeling close at hand.

She shivered just a little – the cave was a bit chilly now that the sun had been down for a few hours.

"Don't you guys believe in blankets?" She asked looking around for her pack. She had a sleeping bag that would work just fine if she could get to it.

Kale smiled, and turned back into the shaggy wolf for just a moment, then changed back. Obviously they could change as much as they wanted to and any time they wanted to.

"If we get cold, we simply change forms." He told her. "Many of us sleep in the other form on cold nights."

_You could have him stick around and keep you warm,_ Talon told her, knowing what her response was going to be even when he said it, and sending her a mental picture of herself cuddled up to the great big wolf like a little kid cuddled up to the family dog.

She shared the amusement, although she hid her smile so Kale wouldn't wonder what she was thinking.

"I have a blanket in my pack," she said to Kale, pointing at it. "If you'd get it for me, I'd appreciate it..."

He brought it over and Melony wrapped it around herself as well as she could, accepting his help when he pulled it carefully over her injured shoulder.

"Are you tired, Colonel Mitchell? If you are I will go away and allow you to rest, but if you're not, I would hear more of these Jaffa that call you their goddess and the story behind it."

She had promised him, Melony reminded herself.

"It's a long story, Kale," she said to him. "But if you're willing to hear the shortened, bare-bones version of it, then I'll tell you what you want to know." To a point, of course.

He nodded.

"That will do."

She smiled – wishing again for a cup of coffee – and launched into the tale.

It was extremely edited. She didn't even mention Talon – who agreed completely that he wasn't anything they needed to know about. She didn't mention Brad, either – because that was just too personal to share with him. She told him about the system lords and how they dominated the Jaffa by pretending to be their gods and forced them – through that religion – to do what they wanted and to battle with each other for things that didn't matter to the Jaffa, only to their Masters. She told Kale how she'd managed to build a ship that might be exactly what she needed to defeat the system lords, and told him the story of the ambush the System lords had set out for her. And how she'd healed and then returned to fight them again, this time emerging as the only survivor and taking over the Jaffa armies of those who had been killed.

As she finished telling him of the first meeting between the majority of the Jaffa First Primes and herself, there was movement at the entrance of the cave, and Lieutenant Ford walked in, grinning like a Cheshire cat. He saw that Mitchell had company, but knew that she wasn't _entertaining_ Kale in any way that he'd be interrupting, so he walked over.

"Back so _soon_, Lieutenant?" Mitchell asked, innocently.

The smile broadened and the young man sat down on the edge of Melony's straw stack, leaning against her to steal a little of her warmth.

"I figured I'd better go to bed before things got out of hand," he said.

"Oh? And you decided to go to bed alone?" She asked, smiling at Kale. "No one propositioned you?"

Ford laughed.

"Seven! Seven of them did – of course, two were males... but that's beside the point. This place is like..." He trailed off. He didn't know what this place was like; he'd never heard of any place like this before.

"A porno?"

He snickered, and nodded.

"Yup."

"If you'll pardon the pun... how are the others making out?" Mitchell asked, curious if Rodney McKay had inserted his foot into his big mouth yet and had managed to get tossed off the mountain.

Another laugh, and Ford shook his head.

"I honestly don't know. I saw Teyla talking to a group of Light Ones, but she was the only one I saw when I left. It doesn't mean anything, of course, because they could be anywhere... but..."

"Your friends are fine," Kale said. "Did you need to speak with them? I could interrupt-"

"Oh, no." Melony raised her hand. "I don't need them right now, and I'm sure they're all... just fine... where they are."

"Wherever that is," Ford said, still grinning.

"I don't ask, I don't tell," Melony said. "Remember that, Ford."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Colonel Mitchell was telling me of her defeat of the System Lords," Kale said, unsure exactly what was so funny, but pleased they were amused. "I think, however, that she's ready to sleep and I have kept her awake too long, so now that you are here to act as her legs if she needs anything, I shall depart."

"It was nice talking with you, Kale," Melony told him, sincerely. He was a good listener – once you ignored the whole naked thing and all.

"Thank you for telling me your tale." The Light One stood up and left, telling them he'd see them in the morning.

"They seem nice enough," Ford said as he got up and went to his pack for his sleeping bag.

"Yeah." She stretched out as well as she could, and yawned. She'd had a heavy meal and was warm and as comfortable as she was going to get. It was time to sleep. "I'll see you in the morning, Lieutenant. Try not to let anyone trip over you if they come stumbling in in the middle of the night."

He chuckled, and made sure that the bed he made for himself wasn't in the path from the entrance to their cave – even though it was said as a joke, it still made sense, since they didn't know how long the lights would burn to illuminate their room.

"Good night, Colonel."

She didn't answer, though. She was already asleep – dragged down by Talon, who could do far more work on her injuries of she was asleep and at rest than he could when she was talking.


	16. 16

As it turned out, Ford needn't have worried. When he and Mitchell woke up the next morning – which was only five or six hours later – they were still the only two in the room. Neither of them commented on this fact as he helped Melony get changed into a clean uniform – which was impossible to do on her own – but they would catch each other's gaze every now and then and start snickering for no apparent reason.

By the time Kale came to wake them, they were both dressed and ready to start the day, and in high spirits, despite the fact that Melony's leg and shoulder were still aching abominably because of the chill in the air and the awkward position she slept in the night before.

"Ah, you're awake! The Council wishes to speak with you – if you don't mind?"

She shook her head, looking over at Ford, who shrugged. He was ready for the day – although he wouldn't say no to breakfast if they had something hot.

"No, we don't mind? Are we to meet them in the same room?"

"No, they're on the way here," Kale answered immediately. "We don't want you on your leg any more than necessary."

That was nice of them.

Sheppard walked into the room just then, looking tired and disheveled, and Ford hid yet another grin at the slightly guilty expression on his face. Mitchell schooled her features before Ford could get her giggling again, and John tried to ignore both of them as he went over to his pack for something to change into.

"The Council's coming, Major," Mitchell told him. "Change fast or they'll catch you with your pants down."

Ford was suddenly overcome with a terrible coughing fit, and Sheppard threw a sharp look over at Melony, who gave him an innocent, wide-eyed look.

"Thanks for the heads up, Colonel," he said, grabbing a clean uniform. No sooner had he dropped his pack, though, then the Council arrived, and the room was suddenly filled with overly tall, naked people once more.

"Colonel Mitchell," Lora smiled a greeting as she and the others walked over to where Melony was sitting with her broken leg propped up. "We apologize for intruding so early, but we have a request to make of you and wanted to give you plenty of time to decide how you wanted to handle it."

"Oh?"

Sheppard came over to stand next to Ford so he could hear what was being said as well. Lora nodded.

"We have decided that we'd like to renew our acquaintance with the humans of the planet. We've been isolated from them for a long time, and feel that to regain the kinship we once had would be beneficial to both our peoples. My people aren't the best of farmers, and have discussed this and decided that we would gain from trading with the Humans for grains and fruits instead of growing our own. In return we could hunt for them, since to go out into the forests is dangerous for them. It is up to them, of course, but we'd like the opportunity to ask, and we feel it would be best for you to introduce us to them – since we fear if we simply showed up in the middle of their community, it might cause undue panic or fright."

Mitchell looked over at Sheppard, who scratched his stubbled chin.

"Are you taking us to them today?" he asked.

Kale nodded.

"If you wish."

"We need to get back to our own people," Melony said. "They're going to be worrying about us if they don't hear from us, soon and we don't want them to come looking for us and maybe run into the dark ones."

"We can be ready to go whenever you are," Lora said. "There is only one way to get you off the mountain, unfortunately, and we're fairly certain it will be uncomfortable for you because of your injuries..."

"Flying us off, you mean?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes."

"You really should get some clothes on if you want to meet the farmers," Ford put in. "We don't know them well, but they seemed a bit conservative – and there are children to consider..."

Kale frowned.

"Clothing does not transform when we change – which is why we don't bother with it most of the time."

"We could carry it for you, and you could get dressed once we land," Sheppard said.

_You aren't going to enjoy a flight, Hot Shot_

I know.

But they needed to get home.

"Well, I'd say we owed you guys for saving us from the Dark Ones," Mitchell said, glancing at Sheppard again, since she didn't want to arbitrarily make the decision.

He nodded his agreement.

"We could at least let them know who you are and assure them you're not going to eat them or anything."

"We won't eat them," Lora assured them with a smile. "I'll have those who are to take you find clothing for themselves while you and your companions have your breakfast."

The Atlanteans all nodded, and the Council left.

"Would you like breakfast here?" Kale asked Melony.

"If you don't mind?"

He smiled and shook his head.

"Not at all. I'll have someone bring it to you, since I need to seek out some clothing of my own, but I will see you soon."

"Thank you, Kale."

He left them, then, and they heard him murmuring a greeting to someone right outside the opening. A moment later, Teyla came walking in looking refreshed and relaxed.

"Good morning."

Ford was suddenly coughing again, but Melony had her mind on other things, now – mainly the damage an uncontrolled landing was going to do to her nowhere near healed leg.

_We'll figure out something_

Uh huh.

She'd have to ask Kale and the others. Of course, it was entirely possible that they were already working on the problem.


	17. 17

"Are you absolutely certain we have to go _today_?"

Mitchell rubbed her face, pretending to be tired while in truth she was hiding a smile that just wouldn't be stifled any other way. Rodney McKay had shown up while they'd been eating breakfast, and had expressed his displeasure with the whole idea of leaving any time soon ever since he'd heard they were planning on leaving as soon as breakfast was over and the Light Ones had managed to find themselves some clothes.

Aiden Ford looked like he was going to explode with laughter any moment, and Melony made it a point to avoid looking at him because she knew he'd just set her off into peals of giggles. Instead, she simply ignored the fact that McKay's shirt was on inside out and listened as Sheppard answered – again.

"We need to get back to the farmers, and then get back to Atlantis," Sheppard said – again.

"Colonel Mitchell's leg won't handle a trip back the way we came," McKay said reasonably. "We should stay a couple more days... to give her a chance to heal..."

As much as Melony agreed with how much she was going to hurt at the end of this flight, she still couldn't help the coughing fit that hid the giggles.

"We need to get back, McKay." Sheppard told him with far more patience than usual. Of course, he understood exactly why McKay wanted to stay – and he wasn't above being tempted to stay another night himself – but they had responsibilities elsewhere. Unfortunately.

"But we should have someone stay... to act as a liaison between the farmers and the Light Ones – until they get a chance to know each other better."

"Then we'll have Colonel Mitchell stay so she doesn't have to endure the flight back..."

A pained look crossed McKay's face, and he sighed and he shouldered his pack.

Melony looked over at Sheppard, unable to hide her amusement.

"I'm not acting as liaison."

"I know." He looked down at her leg – which the Light Ones had wrapped even more securely so it would have less chance of being reinjured if her landing was less than gentle – although several of them had already departed to make a soft landing spot for them to be dumped into. Apparently it was easy to grab someone if you were a bird, but impossible to simply set them down. "Although I'm tempted to ask you to stay just to keep you from hurting that leg."

She appreciated the concern, but shook her head.

"I don't want to stay."

She didn't like the way everyone looked at her – although she knew it was just because of the extra life force they sensed when they were around her. It was still uncomfortable, and she wanted to get back among the humans that couldn't tell.

"Are you ready?" He was willing to allow her to do whatever she wanted – indeed; he couldn't stop her, anyways, really.

She nodded.

"How's the wrist? Wrapped tight enough?"

The Light Ones had wrapped his broken wrist in a similar fashion as Mitchell's leg, and Ford would carry Sheppard's P-90 along with Mitchell's and his own in a pack where there would be less chance of hurting himself by landing on it.

"It'll be fine – although I won't mind getting back to Atlantis so it can get set. The Tylenol isn't doing that much to help the ache."

She understood completely. Talon wasn't helping all that much with her leg and shoulder – although she was glad to have him.

_Thanks_

Don't mention it.

Sheppard went to tell Kale and the others they were ready, and McKay and Ford came over and helped Mitchell to her feet while Teyla gathered the other packs – including one that held a change of clothing for each of the Light Ones that were going with them to meet the farmers.

A moment later the large wolfish creature that was Kale came into the room, padding silently next to Sheppard. He took his customary position next to Mitchell and helped her outside, where she was handed over to a pair of Light Ones who supported her while Kale changed back to his human form.

"If you each arrange yourselves a distance from each other, it'll make it easier for us to take hold of you once we change." He looked at Melony, who couldn't help but run her hand along her injured shoulder, and frowned. "I'll be careful, I promise."

She nodded, giving him a smile that was far more confident than she really felt.

"I know."

The others were double-checking their vests – which were what they were going to be carried by – and making sure they weren't loose. Then they moved a bit away from each other and waited for the Light Ones to change into bird form.

Kale gave Melony's vest a careful tug – just to make sure it was tight – and moved away from her, giving himself plenty of space before he changed. It happened immediately, and Mitchell couldn't help but be amazed at just how large that bird was. Then she felt a little guilty, because she noticed that it was missing a few feathers along the left wing and she knew that was her fault. Apparently, feathers didn't just grow back. She wondered what had happened to the ones she'd ripped from him on the trip to the mountain. Maybe they could glue them back in – or whatever it was called.

_Imping_

I knew that.

_Uh huh_

She ignored the sarcasm and watched as Kale launched himself into the air and flew out over the cliff obviously warming up his wings for a little bit before coming back. As he did this, the other Light Ones who were going to be carrying them did the same thing, and soon the air was filled with little tufts of downy feathers that drifted down as the birds gained altitude and created an impressive aerial display while they worked wings that would be well-worked before the day was over.

"This isn't going to be fun," Melony muttered, more to herself as she watched Kale turn and glide back towards her.

_Brace yourself_

I am.

A moment later there was a buffeting wind and she felt her vest grabbed in Kale's sharp talons. A quick jerk pulled her off her feet with a painful lurch, and a moment later she was airborne, being carried towards the Northwest, hanging from her vest, which was pressed painfully against her injured shoulder – although it beat the heck out of being carried by the shoulder itself, so she wasn't complaining.

She turned as well as she could without hurting herself – or risking doing something to her vest and getting dropped – and saw that the others had been grabbed as well and they were all in the air, now.

_Might as well settle in for the ride,_ Talon told her, already working on repairing the damage done to her shoulder from being grabbed so roughly.

At least she could try to enjoy the view.


	18. 18

The landing hurt just as much as Mitchell thought it was going to. Despite the fact that the Light Ones had done a good job building a huge pile of soft hay in the middle of a clearing – not a farmer's field, just a naturally occurring clearing – the jolt from being dropped into the hay after hanging from Kale's talons for over an hour with all the blood rushing to her feet and legs just plain hurt.

She didn't even bother to stifle the curse that was torn out of her when she landed, and there were tears in her eyes when a couple of the Light Ones came over hurriedly to help her out of the hay.

"Are you injured?" One asked as Sheppard came flying in, landing in a heap with a muffled curse of his own.

"Yeah, but I'll live..."

She clung to them, though, as well as she could while she waited for Talon to assess what damage might have been done to her broken leg and injured shoulder.

"Well, that's just _not_ my idea of a fun time..." Sheppard said as he rolled out of the hay and landed on his rear beside her and the two who were supporting her.

"Yeah..."

Mitchell was lowered to the ground beside him, and he looked over at her, concerned by the pale greenish tint to her face and the pain in her expression.

"You okay?"

"I will be." In about a million years.

_You jarred everything, but nothing's broken that wasn't before_

Well, that's a relief

She'd probably never had the guts to do that if she'd known in advance how much it was going to hurt.

_I'm going to deaden all the nerves to your thigh, Hot Shot. You'll need a lot more help walking, but you're not going to be able to get back up if I don't_

Please...

She'd let them carry her if he'd just make the pain stop for a while.

_Not all the pain,_ he told her, apologetically_. Just the leg_

I can live with the shoulder.

_I thought you could_

She felt her leg suddenly go numb and gave an audible sigh of relief. Sheppard's look turned from worried to curious.

"Talon just deadened the nerves in my leg."

"That's handy."

She smiled.

"Except that I won't be able to walk at all, now."

"We'll figure something out. Better that than you-"

They were interrupted by the arrival of Ford, who came sailing in with a yell of excitement. Obviously, he'd enjoyed this flight much more than the first one – and far more than Mitchell or Sheppard had.

"He's young," Sheppard said when the two exchanged glances at the grin on the Lieutenant's face when he popped up out of the hay and headed over to them.

"Indeed."

She smiled and nodded a greeting to Kale and Aron – who were both walking towards them, now in human form.

"How is your leg, Colonel Mitchell?" Aron asked. "They told us you looked to be in considerable pain..."

Melony nodded.

"It hurt, but I can deal with it. I don't think I'll be able to walk, however."

"We can make a stretcher," Sheppard said, shrugging. "It shouldn't be that hard to rig something together with blankets and trees and some rope."

"I'll go find some poles," Ford said, rubbing his legs to get feeling back in them after the flight – although he'd been doing that during the flight as well, so he wasn't as crippled as Sheppard was.

"We shall accompany you," one of the Light Ones said, assuming wolf form.

"They will make sure there are no Dark Ones around as well a protect Lieutenant Ford from any predators that may be in the area." Kale explained.

Mitchell nodded, and everyone looked up as a shadow fell over them and Teyla came crashing in, rolling smoothly in the hay despite her bulky packs. She rolled out of the stack as the bird that had dropped her continued to fly past, obviously heading for whatever landing area Kale and the others had used.

"It's a lot more fun when you're expecting it," Teyla said, already able to stand on her feet, which made Sheppard and Mitchell both scowl.

"_She's_ young, too," Mitchell said. "She must be..."

John grinned, and they all watched as Rodney came in only a few moments behind Teyla. The bird carrying him apparently saw that Teyla was out of the way, because a few seconds later the Astrophysicist was dropped into the hay, which wasn't looking quite so much like a pile anymore.

"I'm _not_ going to do that again," McKay said, wincing as he rubbed his legs from the middle of the haystack. He didn't even bother to try and move from where he'd landed – and there wasn't any reason for him to since he was the last one down. He looked around. "Where's Ford?"

"He's off finding materials to build a litter," Sheppard explained. "We're going to carry Colonel Mitchell from here – her leg isn't going to hold her."

"Was it really wise to send him into the forest alone? I mean, you never know what-"

"He's not alone." Kale assured Rodney.

A moment later that was proved out when the brush moved and three of the huge wolfish creatures walked into the clearing, accompanied by Ford, who was carrying two long, straight branches – which had actually been the trunks of two young trees.

"How far are we from the farmer's houses?" Sheppard asked Kale and Aron as he heaved himself to his feet to walk over to help Ford.

"Not far," Kale promised. "It is only a short flight from here – or an easy run in our other form. We have never made it in this form, however, so I cannot be completely accurate. No more than an hour."

"We'll have this stretcher together pretty quick," John said, pulling a blanket from his pack. "You guys had better get dressed."

McKay sighed.


	19. 19

The Light Ones carried her. Kale, because it was his responsibility to he said, and the others because they were the same height – give or take – as Kale, and that kept the stretcher level, which kept Mitchell from rolling off and maybe hurting herself further. Sheppard and the others walked with their guns out and ready, scanning the trees, but Aron assured them that the Light Ones would know if there were any Dark Ones close by.

The Light Ones walked casually next to the stretcher, their pale eyes watching the forest and their feet making little noise on the forest floor. Some walked ahead, moving branches out of the way for the others, some walked behind as rear guard. All were dressed in rough-spun trousers and plain tunics of a dull grayish color – probably the color of the wool they'd made the shirts out of in the first place. They didn't have shoes, but they didn't seem to mind – certainly none of them were limping like Sheppard knew he'd have been after ten minutes of walking barefoot through the shrubby forest.

OOOOOOO

They entered the clearing from the opposite direction they'd entered it from only two days before, and they were noticed immediately. Of course there were ten of them now where before there had only been five, and five of them were all well over seven feet tall, and most were eight, which meant they pretty much towered over everything, and stuck out rather clearly once they entered the clearing.

Cautiously, the door to the house that they were closest to – not Cay and Rella's – opened, and an old man peeked out, looking at the group with suspicion. Mitchell didn't recognize the man but Talon did.

_Koren_

"That's Koren, Major," she told Sheppard. "Go tell him that these guys are friends and see if he'll send for the others."

"Koren!"

Sheppard walked forward while the others stopped, his hand up in greeting and a smile on his face to tell the old man that there was no danger. At the sound of his name – and recognition of Sheppard once he moved away from the small group – the old man came out of the house and walked over to meet Sheppard, his eyes on the tall Light Ones.

"Major Sheppard? We were sure you'd been killed when you and your friends didn't return last night."

"We ran into... some friends..." Sheppard said, smiling and taking the hand the old man offered. "They're definitely someone you and your people should meet as well."

"They're not dangerous?"

"Not to you or your people," Sheppard assured him. "If you'd send for the others, we'll introduce you."

"What happened to Colonel Mitchell?"

"She broke her leg."

"Bring her inside and I'll send the boys for the neighbors..."

Koren turned and walked into the house again, calling for his wife and leaving the door open in invitation for Sheppard and the others.

John turned and waved the others over, and the two carrying Mitchell followed him into the dim interior of the house, which was roomy enough for all of them to fit easily – although the Light Ones had to duck to get through the door. As they went in, several young men – mostly Koren's sons – edged cautiously past them and out the door, apparently running off to collect the neighbors.

"What happened to you?" Koren's wife, Lira, asked, coming over to the stretcher as it was brought into the house. She frowned when she saw the bandaged shoulder and the heavily wrapped leg, but noticed that Mitchell's color was good, so she wasn't in shock or anything.

"Broke my leg," Melony said, accepting a cup of water gratefully. Being carried was dusty work, apparently. "It's already set, but I'd appreciate getting it propped up and sitting someplace that won't move under me."

"Of course you would." Despite the intimidating size of the newcomers, Lira was all business when it came to injured folk – and no stranger to that, since she had seven boys, after all. "You lot set that stretcher down, carefully, and help Colonel Mitchell into this chair."

She ordered Ford and McKay to start moving furniture out of the way – which they did, reacting automatically to her authorative manner – and soon the room was cleared except for several chairs and a low-slung couch, which was where she installed Melony, with her leg propped up on a stool. Kale was seated next to Melony on the couch, and Aron was next to her, with the other Light Ones all on the sofa as well. Sheppard and the others arranged themselves on the chairs, and all of them were served a cup of tea by Koren, who assured them that the neighbors would be arriving soon.

OOOOOOOOO

They did, too. The house that Koren and Lira raised their seven boys in was a large one compared to some of the others, but even this house was filled to overflowing in less than an hour as neighbors and farmers from even further away came in to see the Atlanteans again and the strange people they'd brought back with them. Cay and Rella showed up and Rella immediately started mothering over Ford's cut and bruised forehead, which made the young Lieutenant blush as he assured her again and again that he was fine. Eventually, he mentioned casually that Sheppard had broken his wrist, and Rella and several other mothers – and young women who found Sheppard attractive – all gathered around the Major, tisking and trying to comfort him. He threw Ford a look that clearly said he'd pay, and then spent the next few minutes assuring them all that he'd be fine.

"We want you to meet the people we found," Melony said finally, drawing everyone's attention to her and the 'people' that were sitting next to her. She smiled, and gestured to each of them, introducing them to the folks gathered and also serving to relax the atmosphere even more. Obviously she wouldn't be sitting next to the Light Ones if they were dangerous, even the children in the room knew that.

Once the introductions were done, Melony looked at those gathered.

"You folks don't know this, but the humans on this planet – your ancestors – were once well aware of the Light Ones, although they weren't called that back then. I'm going to have Kale tell you the history of his people, like he told us, and then we'll see if there's any interest in you folks to renew that relationship."

There were assorted nods – everyone loved a good story, anyways, and the fact that this one involved them made it even more interesting. Melony nodded to Kale, and he started telling them the story that Lora had told Melony and the others.


	20. 20

"What an astounding story..."

From the silence in the room when Kale finished the story, the others agreed completely with Rella's statement.

"So... your people want to trade with mine?" Cay asked.

Kale nodded.

"We grow our own grains, now, but we're not very good at it, and our methods are clearly not as efficient as your own."

"So in return for our grain you'll protect us from these Dark Ones – the Guardians?"

Kale shook his head.

"My people will _always_ protect you from the Dark Ones – our gods have given us that command and we are responsible for them. What we will give you in... trade... for your grains – and perhaps cloth – is meat of the sorts your people have more trouble attaining. Venison, fish, and wild foul. Things of that nature. We also have access to fields of wild berries and wild orchards that grow fruit that we have never observed your people cultivating, so we would add that to our list of items we would trade – if it turns out your people like them."

There was a lot of murmuring in the room, but none of it sounded negative to Mitchell, and that was a good sign as far as she was concerned.

"There's a lot for you and your people to work out with the Light Ones," Melony told the group of farmers. "But even if you don't trade – which is completely up to you and yours – at least you don't have the fear of the Guardians hanging over your heads anymore. You know what they are, now, although you still need to be wary of them."

There were nods all around.

"We'll need to discuss it, of course," Koren said, "But even if the others don't want to trade with you, I do. My wife is a fine weaver, and my boys are good farmers – we grow plenty of extra. Although this season most of that is going to go to Colonel Mitchell and her companions – because we've already allocated it for them – we would trade in the future."

"We would, too," Rella agreed. There were several other nods as well.

Mitchell looked over at Sheppard, catching his eye. Two good things there; the farmers had accepted the Light Ones, and the farmers had mentioned that they had plans to trade their surplus with the Atlanteans. Good all around.

"You will have to meet our Council," Aron said, smiling and looking pleased with the way things had gone. "But that will wait until a later date. There is no rush – although we will be more than willing to supplement your meat supplies through the upcoming winter – as well as begin our own harvest of the wild berries and fruits in exchange for future tradables."

"That is agreeable."

Sheppard cleared his throat. "What you might do is put up a flag pole of some sort and fly a pennant of some kind that the Light Ones can see from above. Then they'll know when you want to talk to them."

"Good idea." Mitchell murmured.

John shrugged, but he flashed a smile.

"Can you really turn into a bird?" One of the younger farmers asked – this one barely out of his teens from the looks of him.

Kale nodded.

"We have two other forms besides this one."

"Can we see?"

Kale started to stand up, but Melony put her hand on his arm to stop him.

"There's a slight problem with that," she told the farmers with a smile.

"Problem?"

"The Light Ones transform," Melony said, "But their clothing doesn't. Which means they'll have to undress, first."

"Oh."

Several of the farmers were looking at the younger people in the room – many of them children.

"Perhaps a demonstration at a later date?" Aron suggested, smiling – although she didn't understand exactly why the humans seemed so unwilling to look upon their nakedness. Sheppard certainly hadn't had a problem with it the night before – and neither had a couple others in the Atlantean group from what she'd heard.

"We'd like that," Rella said, agreeing, "But it can wait."

Mitchell figured the Light Ones could start carrying clothes with them in packs or something for when they came for a visit. That was something they'd have to figure out with the farmers.

"I'd say a celebration of some sort is in order..." Koren said, smiling. "It's not every day, after all, that we find have new people to trade with – or make such amazing new friends!"

There were shouts of agreement, and Melony decided that the farmers just liked any reason to have a party. Once they got use to the Light Ones, she figured they'd get along well in that sense.

"Will you stay for the celebration?" Rella asked Kale and the others.

Kale nodded.

"We have promised to see Colonel Mitchell and her companions safely to the gate, so we must remain."

"We really don't have time to stay for a party, do we?" Ford asked. "Aren't the others going to start worrying about us?"

"Not until sometime in the morning," McKay said.

"But we've been gone for two days..." Sheppard said, agreeing with Ford. "We told them we'd probably only be gone two days."

"We've been gone two of the days on _this_ planet," McKay told them rolling his eyes like he always did when he was being smarter than everyone else. "The days here are much shorter than our own, so in the sense of time, we've only been gone about a day and a half. We could stay until morning, gather up whatever the farmers here are willing to trade, and then get back about the same time we told them we would."

Rella smiled, although she didn't understand the explanation completely.

"So you can stay?" She asked.

Sheppard shrugged, and then smiled.

"Why not?"

Why not indeed?

OOOOOOOO

Food had been brought from the other houses, as well as a special brew that the farmers told the Atlanteans and the Light Ones was a fermented drink they only pulled out for the very best of occasions. They had shown proper pleasure at the announcement, and then the Atlanteans were given even better news. The farmers had decided that the Atlanteans had done them such a favor in introducing them to the other indigenous people of their planet – as well as bringing them new long-term trading partners – that they had decided to give them all that they'd been planning on trading to them. It amounted to several wagonloads of grains, mostly – as well as a lot of dried and cured meats – which would come in handy on Atlantis. The farmers said if the Light Ones would guard them form the Dark Ones, they'd drive the wagons to the gate to make transporting the food that much easier, and Kale and his people agreed willingly.

Logistics taken care of, the celebration got into full swing after that, and the special brew was brought out and handed out to all the visitors – as well as the adult farmers. Mitchell took a testing sip, and found it be lightly fruity and a rather mild drink.

_You might not want to drink any more of that_, Talon told her after that first sip.

What? Why not? It's good.

_It's a lot stronger than you think it is_

Are you sure?

She looked down at her drink. It didn't look all that potent, and it certainly didn't taste all that strong. The others were drinking it happily – although the Light Ones had set their shares aside, saying they would prefer water or simple tea.

_Trust me_

Which pretty much meant she wasn't going to do any more drinking. Melony sighed, and asked for some tea.

When we get home, I'm going to down a gallon of coffee before I do anything else.

She watched the festivities from her seat on the sofa, and lost track of her companions as a plate of food was brought to her and she, Kale and Rella started a discussion about the young of the Light Ones - which Melony was just as curious about as Rella, since they hadn't seen any children when they'd been on the mountain.


	21. 21

_You know, in retrospect it might have been a good idea to warn the others about the potency of that special drink those farmers make_

Mitchell sighed, looking over at Sheppard, who had passed out about two hours before dawn and was now sprawled on the floor in a corner, covered with a blanket to keep him warm but otherwise left where he'd fallen. Near at hand were the other members of the team, all passed out as well. They weren't the only ones, of course – several of the farmers had found a nice little space of their own to pass out and sleep off the drink – but Mitchell was the only one of the Atlanteans who was awake and there were very few farmers left awake in Koren's house. Those that had remained sober – most of them – had gathered up their children and headed for their own homes, promising Lira and Koren that they'd be over later to help clean up, and telling Mitchell that they'd have the wagons ready at sunrise.

Yeah, probably.

Melony had no idea how she was going to get them sobered up in time to head back to the gate. She'd leaned over and nudged Rodney McKay with a stick – he was the only one she could reach – and he'd mumbled something she couldn't understand and had rolled out of reach.

"Are you all right?" Kale asked from where he was sitting beside her. He'd been close at hand all night, acting as her legs if she wanted anything and had heard her sigh.

"I'm okay," she told him, looking from Sheppard's sleeping form over to Kale. "Just trying to figure out how to get them all home."

"Perhaps you should wait until they wake up?"

She shook her head, looking at her watch and doing some quick math. Already, the people at Atlantis would be wondering where they were – although they shouldn't really be worrying, but you never knew.

"If my people get worried enough, they'll send some others looking for us, and the last thing we want is to risk them running into any Dark Ones."

She'd been attacked by Kale, and had been no match for him – even though he hadn't actually been trying to hurt her. There was no doubt that of another team was sent, and ran into a pack of the Dark Ones they'd be decimated.

Kale nodded.

"Perhaps they'll wake before the sun rises..." He didn't look all that convinced, though, and Melony didn't feel all that confident about that. The sun was going to be up within a half hour – certainly no more. Already she could see the sky lightening through the windows.

_Maybe monkeys will fly out of your ass..._

Mitchell was glad she hadn't been drinking anything, because Kale would have been wearing it – undoubtedly snorted through her nose. As it was, she grinned, hiding it as well as she could by rubbing her face.

"I don't think so, but we'll see."

"Are you tired?" He asked. It had been a long day for her, and she was injured, although her leg didn't seem to be bothering her since earlier that day and she hadn't complained about anything.

"A little."

"You could take a nap."

She shook her head.

"I'll wait until I get back." For the same reason. She didn't want to waste any more time than necessary, now, because she didn't want to risk someone coming looking for them.

Kale nodded.

"I'll ask Koren how long it will be until the sun comes up and we can depart." They didn't dare go in the dark, after all. He stood up and Melony watched as he walked over to the farmer, who was drinking a cup of tea and discussing something with Aron. A moment later all three came over to Mitchell.

"The sun'll be up shortly," Koren told her. "I've already sent the boys out to load up a wagon with our surplus – and a bit extra since Kale and Aron assure me that the Light Ones will make up whatever we give you extra."

"That's very generous of you," Melony said, smiling. "All of you." Her smile included Kale and Aron, now.

The Light Ones smiled as well.

"It is nothing compared to what you and your companions have done for us."

"Aye, or what you've done for us," Koren agreed. "We can allow our herds to grow a bit more, now that we'll have other meat products thanks to the Light Ones, so we'll prosper more than ever."

"Well, you're all welcome," Melony said, shaking her head. "Now, if you can just help me figure out how to get my people awake, I'll be in your debt."

OOOOOOOO

They never did get them awake. None of them. Instead, they were simply put into an empty wagon, with enough blankets to keep them from being tossed around and bruised during the trip. Mitchell was helped into a wagon as well, although she was sitting upright, and in the front of the wagon that Cay was driving, so that she could talk to the farmer as they traveled.

The Light Ones had transformed themselves into wolf shape and were trotting next to the wagons, especially guarding the one that held the sleeping Atlanteans. With such guardians, the farmers didn't feel nearly so nervous about traveling through the woods – although there were several looks over their shoulders as the small caravan meandered into territory none of the farmers had ever been in.

They didn't have any reason to be nervous. The Dark Ones never showed, and when the Stargate came into sight, the farmers rolled the wagons right up beside it and stopped, all of them looking at Melony.

Since there wasn't anyone else available to dial the gate, Mitchell had a couple of the farmers help her down, and Kale (in wolf form) came over and took his customary spot beside her and supported her over to the dialing device. She leaned heavily on him and dialed the gate, watching the shocked reactions of the farmers as the gate activated. Melony sent through her IDC, and keyed her radio, hoping that someone was listening in.

"Atlantis base, this is Colonel Mitchell..."

"It's good to hear from you, Colonel," Weir's voice came over the radio only a moment later. "We were beginning to get worried."

"Yeah..." She'd figured they were. "It took us a bit to get supplies together."

"Was your mission a success, then?"

"Completely. I'm going to need you to have a few gurneys ready, though."

"You have injuries?"

"A few, but nothing serious. Major Sheppard's wrist is broken, but-"

"Is he available?"

"He's... um... asleep..." she trailed off. "It's a long story, Doctor Weir, and one that's better told in person. Just have someone on hand to grab everyone as I push them through, and then have people ready to get the supplies as they come through, please."

"Roger that." Weir could wait for her explanation, trusting that if Mitchell said the injuries weren't that bad, then they weren't. "We're ready on this end."

Melony nodded, and turned, waving at the farmers. They got off their wagons and carefully gathered up the members of the Atlantean team and pushed them through the gate – none of them were willing to touch the watery surface, so they couldn't actually support them all the way through, and they definitely didn't want to go _through_ the gate – so the team would probably fall in a heap when they landed on the other side, but it wouldn't kill them.

Then, the farmers started tossing bags of grain and meats through the gate – although a couple actually went to the other side to see if the bags and the people were falling through the ring.

"Amazing," Koren said, shaking his head as he watched his sons finishing up the second wagonload.

Mitchell nodded her agreement, but didn't say anything as the final wagon was unloaded quickly. Once the last of the supplies were through, she used Koren for support and Kale transformed back into his 'human' form. Melony smiled and gave him a slight bow, although it hurt her shoulder to do it.

"Thank you so much for all you've done."

Kale smiled.

"For hurting you?"

Melony's smile turned to a grin.

"I've been hurt worse."

She turned to the other Light Ones, who had all transformed as well and were all smiling.

"Thank you."

There were smiles all around, and she found herself with a half a dozen helpers taking her over to the gate.

"Someone will be there to keep you from falling?" Cay asked her.

"I hope so..." she told them. She was good for one step, and that was going to be it. Then she was going to fall on her face.

"Come back and visit us sometime." Kale said. "Some day when you're _healthy_ and can join us in-"

Melony grinned.

"We'll see." She gave them another wave, and then took that one step that took her through the gate.


	22. 22

It wasn't all that much of a surprise that nobody caught her. It wasn't as if she'd radioed them and said that she was coming through at that moment and that she was going to be just to the left of the center of the gate or anything. She did go through slightly sideways, figuring that if she _did_ fall – and she expected to fall – that she'd at least land on her uninjured shoulder.

When she materialized on the other side of the Stargate, she had a glimpse of a large crowd of people right before she fell, landing with a grunt on her side. It was small consolation that she landed exactly as she'd planned. It still hurt, after all. But not as bad as the landing in the haystack had.

She closed her eyes for a minute, trying to force the sting to go away and biting back yet another curse as she felt gentle hands on her.

"Colonel Mitchell..."

She opened her eyes and saw Elizabeth Weir kneeling beside her, looking at her in concern.

"What happened?"

"You'll never believe it..." she said, trying to sit up.

"Easy..."

The voice behind her was just as concerned as Weir's look, and was in a lilting brogue that gave away the owner immediately – which also told her whose hands were holding her down.

"Wait until I have a chance to check you out," Carson Beckett said.

"I'm fine," she told him, turning her head slightly so she could see him. His eyes were worried and relieved at the same time. "Help me sit up, please?"

"You're sure?"

Of course she was. She had Talon, after all, and he'd have told her if something had been broken or injured that hadn't been before. She didn't say that, though.

"Yeah."

Weir and Beckett helped her sit up, and Melony winced when he accidentally jarred her shoulder.

"What's wrong with Major Sheppard and the others?" Weir asked.

"We can't get them to wake up, but I can't find anything wrong with them aside from a few bumps and cuts – except for the broken wrist you warned me about," Beckett added.

"They're drunk."

"Excuse me?" Weir said, incredulously.

"Drunk," Mitchell repeated, rubbing her forehead. "The farmers threw a party last night and they had this drink that was-"

"You can tell us all about that later," Beckett told her, waving over a couple of medics with a gurney. "I want to get you to the infirmary and get you checked out."

She was all for that. And so was Talon, who'd be able to do more to help her now that she was going to be still for a while.

The medics picked her up carefully and placed her on the gurney.

"Is that leg broken?" Beckett asked, running his hand carefully along the splinted leg.

Mitchell nodded.

"And the shoulder? Broken?"

"No, I was... um... stabbed. Sort of."

"How do you get sort of stabbed?" He asked her as the gurney started moving and they rolled her out of the embarkation area of the command center. Mitchell saw that there were bags of supplies everywhere – grain and meat that would be taken care of now that all the human elements of the team were back safely.

"A giant bird grabbed me and a talon missed my vest and went right through my shoulder."

She didn't need to see his face to know he was wearing a look of disbelief. She could tell by the sudden silence as he walked beside the gurney.

"A giant bird...?"

She nodded.

"You mean it landed on your shoulder and clawed you?"

"I mean it picked me up and carried me for-"

He reached out and touched her cheek, then her forehead, obviously checking for a fever. Mitchell couldn't be annoyed; she _knew_ it was unbelievable. But she had witnesses – as soon as they woke up and backed her story.

"Are you feeling all right, Melony? They didn't give you anything to eat or drink that smelled funny? Or give you anything to smoke...?"

She smiled, pulling her head away from his touch and taking his hand.

"I know it sounds weird, Carson."

"Unbelievable, you mean."

"That, too." She nodded, squeezing his hand, lightly. "But it happened, and when the others wake up you can ask them. For now, though, I just want a chance to rest, and something for my shoulder."

"What about your leg?"

"That, too, but Ford set it already, and Talon deadened the nerves to it so I wouldn't be completely incapacitated."

"I'll still x-ray it, just to make sure the leg is straight. How did you break it?"

She gave him a wry smile, "The giant bird dropped me."

Carson shook his head, and let go of her hand long enough to check for a fever once more.

"I can't wait to hear this report..."

"I'll be happy to let you listen in on it. But first, I need a lot of aspirin and a big pot of coffee."


	23. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

If not for the fact that she knew just how capable and competent they were, Doctor Elizabeth Weir would have decided that the group she saw when she walked into the main lounge area was the sorriest looking group of miscreants she'd ever seen. She paused at the doorway, taking a moment to watch them, a smile on her face that had been there ever since she'd heard that the incapacitation of Sheppard and the others wasn't caused by injury, but by too much partying. And now they were definitely paying the price of that folly.

All of them had woken up from their drink-induced comas with pounding heads, blurry vision and overly sensitive hearing. They'd all wanted to go to their quarters, but Carson had mentioned a concern of alcohol poisoning, and he wanted to keep an eye on them until they were completely over their symptoms, so instead of keeping them in the infirmary, he allowed them to go into the lounge so they could be a little more comfortable. There were sofas in there, after all, where they could stretch out and either continue their naps, or they could watch the few videos that had been brought from home by various members of the Atlantis expedition.

They were all on one sofa, looking a little cramped, but snug at least. Beckett was at the end of the sofa – probably he'd sat there to keep an eye on everyone else, including Mitchell, who was next to him. She wasn't sitting in proper fashion on the sofa, Weir saw. She was sitting sideways, her back leaning into Beckett's side, and her right knee tucked casually up to her chest. Her broken left leg – now encased in an air cast until Talon could mend it – was stretched out across the knees of the two people sitting next to her, and her eyes were closed – although they'd opened for a moment when Weir walked into the doorway. Then she'd closed them again, and leaned her head back against the back of the couch – and Carson Beckett.

Weir wondered if those two had something going on between them. Not that it was any of her business, of course, but she couldn't help but be nosy enough to wonder. They certainly weren't a match she'd have considered – Mitchell and Major Sheppard, maybe, since John Sheppard undoubtedly had far more in common with the Colonel than Doctor Beckett did – but although she joked easily with Sheppard and the others, Carson was the only one she'd ever heard Mitchell call by his first name. Of course, it might just be her imagination, too. It wasn't like the two of them were groping each other on the sofa, after all. She pushed that nosiness aside, and regarded the others.

Lieutenant Ford was next to Mitchell, and he wasn't awake as near as Weir could tell. He was leaning against Melony's right leg, his feet on the floor, his head resting on her knee and his left arm wrapped around it, cuddling against her like a miserable child might cuddle his stuffed toy. Of course, Weir knew that Mitchell and Ford had known each other for quite some time, so this didn't make her wonder about their relationship at all. Ford was Mitchell's friend, nothing more.

Beside Ford and taking the last of Mitchell's broken leg was Rodney McKay. He was sitting upright, and Weir was pretty sure he was awake, although his entire face was hidden by a wet towel that had once been an icepack. The fact that his hand was still pressed tightly against his head told Weir that he was awake, and that he was probably still feeling pretty miserable. Water had stained the shirt he was wearing a darker blue, and she wondered if she should get him a blanket – although it wasn't cold by any means.

Sheppard was another one that Weir wasn't sure whether he was awake or not. He was sitting next to McKay, and was leaning back against the sofa, his head hanging over the back of it, his eyes closed and his face pinched with pain. On his wrist was a brand new cast – Beckett had taken the opportunity while he was passed out to set the bone in his hand and take x-rays to make sure they were all where they were supposed to be. Weir wondered how the Major had managed to break his hand. All she'd gotten from Beckett in the few minutes she'd talked to him was some crazy story about a great big bird dropping them or something. She was pretty sure she'd have a more believable story once they were awake.

Next to John was Teyla. She had the end of the sofa and was stretched out a bit more than anyone else – except maybe Mitchell. Her legs were across Sheppard's thighs, and McKay's lap was the recipient of her feet as well as Mitchell's. The Athosian's long hair was streaming over the side of the sofa – she had her head resting on the arm of it, and from this angle, Weir wasn't sure if her eyes were open, so she couldn't tell if she was awake, either.

All in all, they looked terrible – although none of them were in danger, and that was a definite relief to Weir – who'd been getting worried about them when she hadn't heard back from them in the usual two day's time.

She walked into the room, catching Beckett's attention first, since he was the only one with his eyes actually open. His gaze went to the miserable people beside him and his smile was an amused one. His free hand went to Mitchell's left shoulder – the right one was swathed in bandages – and she opened her eyes again and looked at him, then at Weir as Elizabeth walked over and pulled a chair in front of the sofa so she could sit down and talk to them all. Well as many as would wake up.

Mitchell touched Ford's cheek, and the Lieutenant's eyes opened – then blinked about a dozen times, as if he couldn't focus properly. Mitchell grinned, and Ford showed that he wasn't completely awake and aware when he flipped her the bird with a slightly annoyed look on his face. Mitchell chuckled, and gestured towards Weir. Ford followed the gaze, and saw Weir, and a look of chagrin passed his features, but only for a moment. He was too miserable to care that Weir had caught him flipping off a superior officer, but he did keep his eyes open, and he nudged McKay with a more or less gentle elbow.

McKay grunted, and the noise woke up Sheppard – or at least alerted him to the fact that something was going on. With a pained noise, the Major opened his eyes and lifted his head, looking around with bleary eyes. He saw Weir, scowled at the amused expression on her face, and poked McKay, figuring that if he had to be awake, everyone else might as well be awake, too. He tapped Teyla's leg, and the Athosian muttered something in a language that Weir didn't recognize.

"Good, you're all awake... sort of..."

Weir said, still smiling. She couldn't help it; they looked so terrible. Terribly hung over.

"I'm not _awake_," McKay said from under his towel. "I'm sleeping. And I'm in the middle of the most awful nightmare... I think my head's going to pop off any minute now."

"Big loss there..." Ford muttered. He wiped his chin, and Weir could see that there was quite a drool puddle on Mitchell's knee, although the Colonel hadn't said anything and probably wouldn't.

"Well, for your information, Lieutenant, I just happen to-"

"McKay, shut up." Sheppard poked him again as Teyla sat upright, rubbing her head and allowing her hair to cascade over her face as she leaned forward. If anything, Weir decided they all looked even more miserable, now that they were awake.

Mitchell smiled as well, but she didn't sit up. For that matter, she didn't move at all, and Weir decided she was probably trying to avoid jarring her shoulder and leg. Since none of the others – mainly Ford and Beckett – showed any inclination to move, it wasn't likely she was going to have to move any time soon, herself, so Weir thought she was probably fine where she was – obviously Mitchell had already decided that.

"Since you're awake," Elizabeth said, leaning forward. "I'd really like to hear more about what happened – where you obtained the supplies and how you were injured."

"She probably wants to know about your wild orgy with the Light Ones, too," Ford said, putting his head back down on Mitchell's knee, but looking over at the three on the other end of the couch with a definite gleam of amusement in his eyes.

McKay pulled the towel off his face, and scowled at Ford, then looked at Weir, and Sheppard was suddenly a bit more focused as well. Even Teyla moved her hair out of her face and looked slightly abashed.

Weir looked at Ford, instinctively knowing that she was going to get more information about this from him than from the others.

"Wild orgy?"

"Don't look at me, ma'am," Ford said, lifting his head again. "Colonel Mitchell and I are the soul of purity... we couldn't keep the others from doing their Captain Kirk imitations, though..."

Mitchell snickered, and Weir looked at her. Her pale eyes were sparkling with amusement, and she was regarding the others with a slight grin. Sheppard sighed, and rubbed his face.

"How about we limit this to where we got the supplies and how we were injured?" He asked.

Weir had to wonder what had happened, but she nodded. It was probably best that way. Besides, she was sure that eventually, if she wanted to hear the whole story, she could pull Lieutenant Ford and Colonel Mitchell aside and get the story from them. Maybe.

"Let's start at the beginning, then," Weir said, pulling out a recorder and pressing the start button. "This should be good..."

**The End!**

_So! The Fourth Mitchell Files is done. A couple quick questions from me... do you think I have the Atlantis characters down well enough to write another story in this series, and do you even want another story? I honestly didn't expect to make more than two but I love writing Atlantis, so if anyone will read it, I'll write it..._

_Let me know what you liked, and what you didn't. And as always, give me your favorite line... I think I'll make a list of all the favorite lines from my stories... maybe put them in a collection..._


End file.
